A GA mission recently paid a visit to Youth Futures house in Gilad School in Nazareth Illit to mark the occasion of the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary. 

The GA is a yearly conference of North American Jewish organizations, which send delegations to Israel when the GA is held there (in recent times, approximately every five years).
The mission was received by the Youth Futures staff and 6th grade participants in the program from Gilad and Carmel schools. 

The group started off by playing an icebreaker game in which each of the Youth Futures participants introduced themselves (name, parents' birthplaces, what they like most about the program).  Later on the children, together with members of the mission, planted a 'Youth Futures garden' in the yard of Gilad School.  A name was chosen for the yard, 'Seeds of the Future', to symbolize the growth and productive futures of children and future generations promised by the Youth Futures program.

Towards the end of the visit, the guests received a special gift from the children - bookmarks with personal drawings that were prepared for each of the mission's participants.  The visit wrapped up with a tour of the Pioneer Settlement Museum on Kibbutz Yifat, accompanied by the Youth Futures staff.  The tour provided a stimulating demonstration of the hardships of settlement and the beginnings of the Jezreel Valley's development. The visitors, after listening to the children's stories, planting a garden together, and taking a tour of the museum described their visit as an enjoyable, amazing, and instructive experience.