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Friday May 27, 2005

JCHS working for peace, one playground at a time

by joe eskenazi
staff writer

Students at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay are hoping the country that plays together, stays together.

The school will be raising funds at “Israel in the Gardens” for Playing for Peace, a newly formed local organization aiming to build playgrounds in ethnically mixed Israeli neighborhoods. The group’s first playground will be built in the city of Acco, just northeast of Haifa, in the next few months.

JCHS students are hoping to raise all or most of the $8,000 price tag.

“We’re hoping for peace in Israel and starting with the children is the right way to go. If you get the children to be happy, they’ll see that everyone is the same in most ways,” said Samantha Strauss, a JCHS senior and member of the school’s “Va’ad Squad,” a student-run group that organizes community service projects.

Adds fellow Va’ad Squad member Yael Cushman, “This playground will be used by Jewish children, Muslim children, Christian children and Druze children.”

The students will be selling balloons and operating a photo booth at the June 5 festival, with all proceeds going to the playground.

The playground has already been shipped to Israel, with an Israeli construction company willing to build it on a contingency basis with the assumption the money will be raised. If all goes well, children could be dangling off the monkey bars by the end of June.

The idea of helping build playgrounds in Israel was pitched to the Va’ad Squad by JCHS senior David Zucker, who is on the board of Playing for Peace, along with his mother. It wasn’t a hard sell for his fellow students.

“Last year we did a school-supplies drive and donated them to a school in Israel,” said Va’ad member Luba Yusim.

“We voted that this is a better option.”

The city of Acco was chosen for its diversity, and the actual site of the playground is near a large Druze community. Any funds over $8,000 raised by JCHS will go toward the next playground, on an Israeli site to be determined.

The JCHS seniors won’t just fund the playground, though. They’ll also get to play on it. Nineteen graduating seniors from the high school will visit Israel over the summer, and Acco is on their itinerary.

“One thing to keep in mind, especially for all the kids who are going there [from JCHS] is this money is being raised so children across the world can have as much fun as [us] on playgrounds,” said Strauss.

“Everyone will benefit.”

For information or to make a donation, contact treasurer Karen Amoruso at (707) 591-9450 or e-mail playingforpeace@gmail.com.

ISRAEL IN THE GARDENS

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