Following the terror attack on the World Trade Center, we wrote letters to our SNEC partners.
We also hosted a mission from SNEC on Sept 12.
The program we had planned for this mission, as with other missions during this past year, included discussions with Youth participants in the Seeds of Peace program and P2K volunteer adult leaders from our region.
In the past these discussions have been focused on the Americans listening and asking questions of the Seeds of Peace Teens and the adult leaders and with the Americans offering their warm support for us in Israel.
This time the discussion was lead by one of the Seeds of Peace Youths making a heart rendering statement of support of the Israelis for the Americans. It brought our SNEC mission friends to tears. This time the discussion included giving the opportunity to the Americans to express their shock and fear at what had happened and their feelings of their personal experience of being in Israel at the time it took place.
Obviously the entire experience of the hours spent together was colored by the tragic and horrible WTC attack, but we in Afula-Gilboa were happy that the group decided, in spite of their great distress to come to Afula-Gilboa as had been planned.
The Afula-Gilboa Region had two other unique ways of expressing support for our P2K brethren in SNEC:
Our Regional Manager, Eshel Fram, was in Connecticut to participate in the SNEC committee meeting when the WTC attack occurred. Eshel was among the thousands of air travelers who couldn’t come back to Israel and thus was in our partnership communities to lend his support and compassion.
The Young Emissary Program of P2K between Afula-Gilboa and SNEC turned out to be a small blessing in these uncharted times. Twelve Young Emissaries had arrived in the SNEC communities one week before the attack. In their new volunteer roles in the communities, these young people were able to give support to children and adults alike in the horrible shock wave that shook the entire population.
Tishrei 5762 - September 2001