THESE UNPRECEDENTED TIMES DEMAND AN UNPRECEDENTED RESPONSE
We hope that loved ones you may have in Israel are safe during this horrific crisis. Many Beit Ruth friends and supporters have been asking about the Village – we’re grateful to have such a caring community checking in on our girls and staff. Our remarkable staff continue to maintain a needed sense of structure, routine, and calm for our girls and themselves.
We’ve been addressing immediate needs related to the physical and emotional safety of our girls and staff, including:
SECURITY: Transitioned from an open campus to hiring 24-hour armed security
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: Equipping 12 Safe Rooms with first aid kits, food, water, radios, flashlights, mattresses, walkie talkies, and other critical items
EMERGENCY SUPPORT TO ALUMNAE & THEIR FAMILIES: Offering financial assistance, food vouchers, and emotional comfort to help with increased trauma
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: Increasing one-on-one therapy for our girls who are already vulnerable and whose trauma has been triggered
CRISIS RESPONSE: Ensuring protocols are in place – Emergency Preparedness training, safety drills, Communications and Response Plans, and first aid training
TRAUMA TRAINING: Strengthening the capacity of staff to help them manage the added weight of caring for their own families and our girls who also need them
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES: Expanding hours for Art and Music Therapy, Sports, and other programs to help with our girls’ anxiety
GIVING BACK: Offering the Ministry of Welfare and the municipality a space for evacuees, if needed, and preparing care packages for injured soldiers
We’re also planning for ‘the day after” – being ready for girls who were already at-risk, and a new population of girls who’ve been made vulnerable because of this crisis – finding themselves in single-parent households as parents are called to serve, families abruptly unemployed, displaced from their homes, and worse – children having lost parents and siblings.
With you we will meet the unprecedented needs of our girls who are with us now and those from throughout Israel who will need our care in the future. Thank you for being alongside us and them.
With gratitude and prayers for peace,
We will continue to be there for our girls. Thank you for being alongside with us.
With gratitude and prayers for peace,