By Vera Katsevich, Noar Le'Noar Project Coordinator

The eighth candle of Chanuka was lit at the Yokneam Community Center by the participants of "Noar Le'Noar" (Teen to Teen) project in honor of the new friendships developed between Yokneam-Megiddo and St. Louis teenagers. Vera Katsevich, project coordinator in the region, talked about the rationale of the project and introduced last year's and this year participants. Some eleven students participating in the project shared their experience, feelings, expectations and excitement about taking part in this pen-pal program.  The students taking part represent six different schools in the Yokneam-Megiddo region.  They have been matched by youth their age in St. Louis.  The project is coordinated in St. Louis by Susie Zimmerman, new P2K Steering Committee Chair and Joyce Becker, a long time friend and activist of the partnership in St. Louis.

                                                     
There was a lot of light in the room that evening!   Burning candles and sparkling eyes of the kids revealed stories of their pen-pals overseas, telling about themselves, and even sharing some of the frustrations when the e-mailing failed because of technical problems.  Parents who joined the celebrations expressed their willingness to further support the project. They emphasized the importance of these relations and  noted the value of connections of this sort between teens in Israel and the Diaspora.  They promised to continue encouraging their children in maintaining the connection.

Judy Yuda the Director of Partnerships Yokneam-Megiddo and Shani Alfassi- Kakun the P2K Joint Education Program Coordinator in the region , spoke about other programs operating within the Partnership and wished the students success in the project and in their studies.

All participants were excited to meet one another and enjoyed the Hanauka dougnuts and other refreshments.  Before they went home, the each received a small Hanauka gift from Shani and Vera. The group will meet again very soon.