In Ra'anana, Mor Metro-West high school students give a welcome hand

This past Sunday, February 10, 2019, Arnold Roth, Malki Foundation co-founder and chairman, was an invited speaker at the Mor Metro-West High School in Ra'anana (תיכון מור מטרווסט רעננה).

The students assembled in the library where Arnold shared his personal story of his daughter Malki Z"L and of the founding of the Malki Foundation in her honor after she was murdered in the bombing of the Jerusalem Sbarro pizzeria in August 2001.

The visit was tied to the students' charity project (hashtag #תנוMor), a two-week-long initiative to gather food, clothes and toys for children in need. A serious pile of toys and board-games were collected for the Malki Foundation which was one of the students' designated causes. 

Thank you to the staff, students and families of Mor Metro-West for your support! Special thanks to Shir Yaffe, the student responsible for organizing the event; to Amnon Bar Natan, school principal, and to Dorit Stern who hosted and ensured the participation of a large and enthusiastic crowd.

And great appreciation to Esti Sherbelis who co-ordinated the activity on Malki Foundation's behalf.

The culmination of a great school effort: Honouring our visitors from Manchester

After all that work - a chance to see first-hand where the money goes

We played host on Thursday to about a hundred British guests from the King David High School, the Yavneh Yeshiva High School and Yavneh Girls, in Manchester, UK.

Their visit to Jerusalem's Bet Yad Sarah, from where a Keren Malki Joint Venture with Yad Sarah warehouses, manages and ships home-care equipment to families throughout Israel was a rare and special pleasure for the Malki Foundation team.

The students, all ninth-graders, had taken part during the past year in a variety of activities, mainly of a fund-raising nature, to support the work of Keren Malki. (Here's the September 19, 2014 media announcement.)

The official campaign t-shirt

In large measure, the very positive outcome was the result of tremendous co-operation and support from the campus administration, and in particular the campus bursar Mr David Rose, and Rabbi Jonathan Goodman who headed the project from Manchester. The events of the day itself owed a great deal to the input and assistance of Yad Sarah's personnel under the leadership of Moshe Cohen, the organization's managing director. Special thanks to its spokesperson, David Rottner.

Here's a partial list of what the students did, as recited by Nadia Mechlowitz, a Yavneh Girls student who represented her classmates in a short speech accompanying the hand-over of a donation cheque:

JustGiving page; Zumba class; Pesach cookbook; Bake sale; Bat-mitzvah money; Supermarket bag packing [we reported on that in December 2014]; Family donations; Shpieling (at Purim time); Money-collection boxes placed in shops and restaurants; Kugel and cholent sale; Guessing how many sweets in the jar. And more.

Among the other activities, a Yavneh Boys bike ride raised a considerable sum. They published the group photo below so we could share in the nachat.

Grade 9 Yavneh Boys: A fund-raising bike ride

Some snapshots from a delightful visit:

Arnold Roth, Keren Malki's honorary chairman, with a group
of visiting Mancunian students on the Yad Sarah
8th floor balcony

Formal presentation of one of the donation cheques

Yavneh Girls

Presenting another cheque

We noticed quite a number of students were
wearing Keren Malki wristbands

Hearing first-hand some of the experiences of Shlomo, the father of
a five year-old child with severe disabilities, and about the helpful role
played by the Malki Foundation's team

For students and administrators in other places, it's important for us to mention that at the Malki Foundation we value hugely the goodwill and positive energy that comes from partnering with high-school students. As the KDS/Yavneh experience illustrates amply, focusing on the powerful message of chesed and reaching out to children with disabilities can provide an invaluable moment in a well-rounded Jewish education.

Students at Manchester UK's King David School adopt Malki Foundation as chosen charity

This picture of King David students accompanies
the Jewish Telegraph article

Some great news from the United Kingdom. This article appears in today's edition (September 19, 2014) of the Jewish Telegraph, UK:

KD Kids Back Terror Victim's Charity 

BY ZOE COHEN 

YEAR Nine pupils at King David High School are set to develop ideas to raise money for an Israeli charity. 

They gathered at a special assembly on Wednesday for the launch of the Keren Malki Project. 

The school has teamed-up with the project as its chosen charity for when the pupils head to Israel next year. 

Jewish studies teacher Rabbi Jonathan Goodman, who is heading the project, told them about the charity's background and how they will make an impact. 

The Malki Foundation was started by the Roth family, whose daughter Malki was killed in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2001. 

It supports families of children with disabilities. 

The KD pupils have set a £12,000 target, which will allow the charity to purchase equipment which helps special needs children with muscle development, skeletal growth, increased bone density and social development and integration. 

The students were shown a short film produced by the Roth family, which highlighted the key concepts of how the foundation has impacted on both parents and children. 

Rabbi Goodman said: "These pieces of equipment will help children up to 19-years-old and are able to be reused to help the lives of many for years to come." 

Each student will try to raise £100. Rabbi Goodman told the students: "We have to understand who Malki was. 

"Only after a person has died is when we start talking greatness of them. 

"We should appreciate the people around us when they are alive."

From the Keren Malki KDS pushke design

As part of the discussions with King David School's senior people, The Malki Foundation's management team here in Jerusalem and in Manchester came up with a design (see it above) for a charity (tzedaka) box to be given to the KDS students taking part in the new project.

Meanwhile on the King David School website, they posted this on Wednesday:

Launching the Year 9 Charity for 2014-15, Keren Malki 

September 17, 2014 

This morning Year 9 main school, Yavneh Boys and Yavneh Girls were introduced to this year's school charity, Keren Malki. The Keren Malki Foundation seeks to support families of disabled children in Israel with resources to help their children at home with chairs, seats and therapies in order to realise an active life. 

The foundation is named after Malka Chana Roth. She was born in Melbourne, Australia on November 27, 1985 (Kislev 14, 5746). She died at the age of fifteen in terror attack on the Sbarro restaurant, Jerusalem, on August 9, 2001 (Menachem Av 20, 5761). 

Over this next year KDHS hope to raise £12,000 to support the Keren Malki Foundation.

A great initiative - we wish well to all those involved.