By Yael Shapira, Atlanta and St Louis Jewish Federations' liaison in Israel

On May 12, 2010, we in Partnership 2000 Yokneam-Megiddo had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Rick Bernstein, his wife Terri and their daughter Julie in St. Louis partnership region. The visit began with a short tour of the region guided by one of our local volunteers, Avishay Caspi, who took the guests on tour from the biblical Yokneam, located at Tel Yokneam, thorough the very beginning of modern Yokneam, which sprang in the early 1950’s from a mere transit camp, all the way to Yokneam’s new and thriving neighborhoods. From a spectacular view point we could all see the Jezreel Valley, the Carmel Mountains as well as the city’s booming high-tech park.

We then drove through a lovely scenery road for lunch where we had an opportunity to share thoughts about our partnership, about the strategic initiative funded in the region by St. Louis Jewish Federation and we got to know each other better.

After lunch we drove to the Yemenite Moshav (village) of Elyakim and met with Eli, the Moshav Director, Sara, a participant in the family empowerment program and Shimrit, family coordinator for Elyakim. They all shared with us a very compelling message of how much they have been inspired and assisted by the support and partnership of Federation in the region.

The final part of the Bernstein’s visit was at the Otzmah Center where they saw first hand the young children of the afterschool program taking part in a special art therapy class.

The guests learned from Sarit Te’ena from Megiddo Regional Council Welfare Department about the significance of the Federation funded Otzmah Center in the region.