On Tuesday, October 2, the first day of Chol HaMoed Sukkot , the Partnership was honored to host US Ambassador Daniel Shapiro in Beit Shemesh. The ambassador came to the city to study how different sectors of the population are living together, to meet with local US citizens and to learn about the Partnership's initiatives in the area of women's health and wellness.

The visit started in the succah of Mayor Moshe Abutbul and then Ambassador Shapiro was taken on a tour of the city.

The second part of the visit was organized by the Partnership. The ambassador requested to visit with women in the health and wellness field, because promoting women's health is one of the goals of the current US administration.  Our Partnership has been working with entrepreneurs in the field of wellness for the past four years as part of our Israel 15 - community building program. For this visit 12 women in the health field were invited to set up tables at Dina Guedalia's women's health center. They had the opportunity to present their ideas, products and services to the ambassador and his staff. Next, Boaz Israeli of Praxis -our partner in community building and regional development, presented our idea of hosting a major women's health event together with the municipality in 2013. The ambassador was impressed with both the women and the work that our Partnership has done in this field. We look forward to forming a long-term relationship with the ambassador and the embassy!

During the third part of the visit the Ambassador met with US citizens at the home of David and Ziva Schapiro (founders of Mercaz Rakefet - a project previously supported by the Partnership) for a question and answer session. Many different issues were discussed from the Arab Spring, to Iran to the upcoming elections. In addition, many of those present got to tell the Ambassador a bit about the many initiatives, projects, non-profits etc. that have been started by Americans in Beit Shemesh.

A great day was had by all!

Many thanks to Dina Guedalia for hosting the visit in her health center, Mireille Surowicz the embassy staffperson in charge of the visit and to Harley Stark from the International Relations department of the Beit Shemesh Municipality.   

Reuven Cohen - Health portfolio, Beit Shemesh Municipality, Gideon Vennor, Mayor Moshe Abutbul, Ambassador Daniel Shapiro, Brenda Ganot, Dina Guedalia