Youth Aliyah’s villages held a series of summer camps which enabled students to enjoy facilities their parents could never afford and better prepared them for the coming school year. Ben Yakir received funding for its summer camps from the Yom Tov TV special held by the Spirit of Israel together with Keshet Israeli Broadcasting Company.

At Ben Yakir these summer programs included computer, sports and horse-riding camps, which were attended by dozens of the village’s pupils. In addition, a preparatory camp was held for new students.

For the second successive summer the Israeli Lion of Judah Women funded a summer camp for girls at Kiryat Yearim. This year the camp was also funded by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

Ramat Hadassah Szold activities were held throughout the summer for students who had no home support environment, while there were the usual young leadership camps and a preparation camp for students with funding from Herschel and Goldene Blumberg from Washington D.C.

At Hadassah Neurim there was also the full range of summer camps for current and future students. Hadassah Neurim made a significant profit by renting out its seafront campus for various courses and leasing dormitory buildings as summer lodges for the ultra-orthodox community.

Nitzana hosted hundreds of children during the summer. These included 1,000 teenagers from development towns within the framework of its “Science in the Desert” programs. The SACTA-RASHI Foundation contributed to these camps. Summer camps were also held at Nitzana for children from Sderot and the surrounding region through the generosity of UIA Canada. The camps were named in memory of Afik Ochayon z”l who was killed earlier this year in Sderot by a missile launched from Gaza.