Autumn is over and we are at the beginning of a very late winter, expecting (and hoping for) rain and lots of it!

It is mid-winter holiday time and we would like to take a look back to what has been happening over the last months.

The school year began with lots of changes and with good spirit. The autumn holidays passed happily and quietly. The peak was the Succot celebration where we hosted the whole community of Harduf, as we do every year, at Beit Elisha's Succah.

It was a very festive evening with over 300 guests.

On November 4^th we laid the corner stone for Kamah Center stage 2. At the ceremony we were honored to have among us the Minister of Education, the Minister of Welfare, the Head of the Israeli National Insurance, the Treasurer of the JAFI, the Secretary of the Kibbutz Movement and the Mayor of the Yizrael Valley Regional Council. They brought their professional staff along.  Prior to the ceremony we held a general meeting where we described the nature of Kibbutz Harduf and its different projects in the fields of welfare, education, organic agriculture, environment and Israeli-Arab activity. After the ceremony we hosted the Minister of Welfare, Mr. Itzchak Hertzog and his staff at Tuvia and Beit Elisha, while the Minister of Education, Prof. Yuli Tamir and her staff toured at the Harduf School. We wish to, once again, thank Mr. Hagai Meirom, Treasurer of the JAFI and Mr. Zeev Shor – Secretary of the Kibbutz Movement for arranging this important and special visit. We hope that the good spirit, the open hearts and the willingness to help, as expressed by all the guests that day, will translate into practical actions in the fields that we require their help and support.

Meanwhile, in the construction site the work has begun and our plan is to finalize the building by January 2010. We are still in need of One Million Shekels in order to complete the second stage of Kamah Center. This is not an easy time to raise funds and we will be more than grateful to receive any help whatsoever.

The school year started after renovations took place during the summer break. There are still a few new children who are in the process of absorption. Many new children and youth have joined us this year after a group of 10 graduates left us this summer. We also took in new young staff members. At Rosh Hashana the whole Tuvia community went hiking to the Kziv River. The trip started at sunrise early in the morning at Mitzpe Hila and ended in the late afternoon hours. This year, Tuvia in cooperation with the Harduf School, opened a new special education class for 3^rd graders. This enables a group of Tuvia students to integrate at the Harduf School instead of travelling every day to other schools in the area.

We are putting much emphasis on promoting the children's learning skills and improving their academic credentials. For this purpose we have hired a staff of remedial instruction teachers and the learning center at Kamah Center is very active in the afternoon and evening hours.

Phoenicia America-Israel, (Flat Glass) Ltd. is "adopting" the Tuvia Community through the initiation of "Zionut 2000". The adoption project opened with a very successful cruise along the Acre Walls and the Haifa Bay together with the employees of Phoenicia and all the Tuvia children and staff. Over the last few weeks volunteers from Phoenicia have started to assist the children in the afternoons at the learning center and are also arranging different leisure activities. There is much goodwill on their behalf and we hope this cooperation will be fruitful and successful.

A new home opened at Kiryat Tivon. The Sagi Family (parents with their own three children) are the house-parents and they took in 4 members of Beit Elisha who moved from our other homes in Kiryat Tivon. In their place we are integrating new members. Many of the staff this year are new, after some major long-time staff members left for a year's leave or embarked upon other paths. After winning the Welfare Authorities bid this autumn, we are now intensively taking in new members. The Board of Directors has approved the possible purchasing of houses in Kiryat Tivon. We are now searching for appropriate houses and funding sources. During the summer we finalized the expansion and improvement of the herbal workshop of Beit Elisha. The purpose of the expansion was to create the possibility to process and package dry food products. With the support of the Ted Arison Family Foundation we purchased equipment for the small factory for the production and packing of organic soup mixture, granola, flours and seeds. Most of the work was self-conducted by Avi Krauz, the manager of the workshop.  We thank the Ted Arison Family Foundation for their important contribution taking this workshop a huge step ahead.

Finalizing the year of 2008, and entering a new year, we wish to thank all those who supported our work this year: The Joseph & Christina Kasierer Fund, The National Insurance Fund for the Development of Services for the Disabled, the Public Committee for the designation of Estate Funds, the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, The Levi Lassen Fund, Iona Fund, Bank Hapoalim, The Will & Rita Jaeger Fund, Shoresh Foundation, The Ted Arison Family Foundation, Phoenicia America Israel Ltd., Zionut 2000. 

With much appreciation and thanks, we wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!