The Project BOOST website says, “Through our work with social services departments around the country, we know how badly at-risk youth need our continuous support."
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERILANDSCAPE PAINTINGS in oils: (from left) St. James Park, London; Stormy Skies Over San Francisco Bay(photo credit: CHERYL KLEIN)
An art exhibition being opened by a Canadian olah in Jerusalem will be giving away its proceeds to Ten Gav, an organization that provides funds for different appliances and services for those in need.Cheryl Klein, whose art will be displayed and who initiated the exhibition, told The Jerusalem Post that she began working with Ten Gav through its founder, Naomi Brounstein, whom she grew up with in Canada.“The point of this exhibit was [to express] this overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my life, for being able to live in Israel,” Klein said. “I really wanted to make a difference and for my work to feel purposeful, which is why I decided to give all the proceeds to Ten Gav in a specific project that helps youth at risk.”The fund that Klein spoke of is Project BOOST, a fund created by Ten Gav with the goal of empowering at-risk youth so that they may complete their schooling. The project seeks to fund secondary educational needs, such as computers, evaluations, and courses, as well as providing household appliances and social service support.The Project BOOST website says, “Through our work with social services departments around the country, we know how badly at-risk youth need our continuous support. We have therefore established Project BOOST, an ongoing fund, so that together, we can help them.”“We started Ten Gav about five years ago,” Brounstein told the Post. “We take applications from social workers around the country for goods and services that their clients need that they do not have government funding for or for which the funding has depleted. We take those applications, we review them, and we fund them.”Among the foundations’ different projects are also those that fund better conditions for elderly Ethiopian immigrants, as well as for single mothers and young women.“The key word for my story is gratitude and fulfillment,” Klein said. “I have a beautiful family, but my nucleus is the Jewish homeland.”Klein explained that her exhibit and the chosen fund is an act of “giving back,” so to speak, to the land of Israel. “I really wanted to be able to give back to youth in this country who may not have as easy a time or be privileged,” she explained. “Ten Gav is really special.”The exhibit will be made up largely of landscape works, all of which were done using oils.
Klein began her art journey after having studied psychology and philosophy. She made aliyah 16 years ago with her family, including five children. She explained that as they grew up in Israel to live a comfortable and happy life, she wishes to pass on that same comfort to those less fortunate.She decided to pick up art professionally a few years ago when she began studying at Studio Hatachana in Tel Aviv, where she studied working on the living figure for four years. Klein now owns and runs a studio in Tel Aviv, where she’s accumulated a large body of work. The pieces going for the exhibit, however, are all new and all landscapes.The art exhibited will be up for sale, the proceeds of which will go to Ten Gav’s Project BOOST.The exhibit will run from December 19 until January 2 at the Jerusalem House of Quality, 17 Hebron Road. Sunday-Thursday, 12-4 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., or by appointment at 054-620-4290. Opening night begins at 8 p.m.See more of the artist’s work at www.cherylkleinart.com.
