Yaniv Maimon, Director of the Southern Region at Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), literally has a big responsibility. That’s because KKL-JNF’s Southern Region encompasses 53% of the area of the State of Israel, from Ashdod and Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast eastward to Kiryat Malachi and Kiryat Gat, the Dead Sea, the Gaza Envelope communities, and southward down to Eilat.
Since the war broke out on October 7, KKL-JNF has deployed its resources in Israel’s South to help those most in need, allocating over NIS 200,000 for educational activities for residents of Sderot. “We were one of the first organizations to help transfer residents of the South to the hotels where they were evacuated,” says Maimon. “Once they arrived in the hotels, we invested in educational activities with musical performances, artists, and other events at hotels in Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Tel Aviv, and Netanya.”
In addition, KKL-JNF has conducted joint activities and has provided funding to the Mercaz Hosen – the Sderot Resilience Center – to provide treatment for Sderot residents who require assistance in dealing with the stress of living within rocket range of Gaza.
Maimon points out that even before the war, KKL-JNF was a significant player in the lives of Sderot residents. KKL-JNF is currently building a KKL-JNF Heritage Center in Sderot, part of the organization’s specially designed buildings with state-of-the-art technology that serve as inviting after-school venues for teens in peripheral communities. Their programs promote academic achievement and creative discovery in tandem with Zionist and environmental awareness and values. Sderot is also a partner with KKL-JNF in the “Chizuk” program, providing a total of NIS 15 million to the municipality over a three-year period to develop projects locally in conjunction with KKL-JNF (the word means chizuk “strengthening” in Hebrew).
KKL-JNF has also bolstered security in the southern communities and provided hundreds of thousands of shekels to emergency security teams in communities located within seven kilometers of the border fence with Gaza. In addition, KKL-JNF provided NIS 1 million to each municipality and local council in the Gaza Envelope and ten ambulances to IDF units in the Gaza Envelope.
One of KKL-JNF’s most ambitious projects in the South is its plan to build a memorial site in the Re’im Forest, where 364 people were murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on October 7.
In late January, prior to Tu Bishvat, families who lost loved ones at the music festival participated in a tree-planting ceremony in the Kibbutz Re’im picnic area. Another commemorative KKL-JNF project is the Path of the Heroines in Ofakim Park, which commemorates the fallen heroines of Swords of Iron. Visitors to the park can scan a special code with their phones to hear the heroic stories of courageous women in the war.
“In the Gaza Envelope,” summarizes Maimon, “we are restoring the open areas, forests, parks, and monuments, and responding to the needs of the local municipalities.”
Many vital projects have been made possible thanks to the support of KKL-JNF friends worldwide. To donate to KKL-JNF and help rehabilitate Israel’s South, click here.
This article was written in cooperation with KKL-JNF.