This Chanukah, 1150 children will be lighting candles of warmth and hope in Orr Shalom homes and programs throughout the country.

Amongst them will be 15 new small flames of the 10 boys and 5 girls who have found a sense of belonging and someone who believes in them in the new after hours club we have opened in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood in Jerusalem. This program, operated in cooperation with "Alyn" and Jerusalem’s Hapoel Basketball team, provides these children with a stable framework and professional therapy without removing them from their homes. They come to the club straight from school, eat lunch, receive help with homework and private tutoring (which for most of them is a first, as they suffer from severe learning disabilities), undergo an innovative treatment therapy designed to improve their motoric and coordination skills using "Alyn's" expertise and facilities (swimming pool, Judo ring etc), and based on a specialized diagnostic process. Then it's time for showers and dinner, after which we take them straight home to bed. 3 months into its operation, the club has already become the main focal point for these children, who choose to come and be a part of this new family every day.

This Chanukah will also see new candles lit in Ashdod, where we opened a new Home for Teenage Girls. The home serves the Ashdod community, and provides the only secular therapeutic framework for non delinquent girls in the region. Together with the house parents Shachar and Tal, and the dedicated professional staff, these girls will get an opportunity for a new and positive beginning.

The new Parent-Child Centers we opened this year in Eilat and Kiryat Malachi now cater to over 50 families, and we will continue to reach out to more families in those communities, helping them stay together (thus preventing the removal of the children from the home).

As you know, the social situation in Israel has not changed for the better, in fact the conditions for the impoverished, for the needy, and for so many children still at risk in their biological homes has steadily worsened. With the political turmoil in Israel, it is hard to predict what the future will hold.

Nevertheless, we are still here doing what we do. Although we continue to expand and reach out to more and more Israeli children at risk, our priority still remains the maintenance of the high quality of professional care and love for the children in our existing programs. We are proud to say that Orr Shalom was chosen to host a special visit by the top officials at the Ministry of Finance, serving as an example of a complete program performing successfully despite the difficulties.

Thank you being part of this. Your support continues to light up the lives of Orr Shalom’s children.

This Chanukah, let us light a shared candle of hope.

Chag Chanukah Sameach,