The hills of Samaria. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Several weeks ago, dozens of teenagers from the Israeli community of Avnei Hefetz in Samaria decided to dedicate a portion of their summer vacation to hold a summer camp for children with disabilities.

When they realized they lacked adequate funds for the project, they decided to raise money via Headstart, an Israeli crowdfunding site for entrepreneurs. To their surprise, within three weeks they were able to raise over 32,000 shekels (~$8400).

Thanks to the considerable donations from people across the country, the camp opened on Wednesday at Avnei Hefetz and will run for four days. Some 40 children with disabilities from around the country, ages 7 to 18, will attend the camp and enjoy the variety of attractions it has to offer, like a water park, kayaks, clowns, an inflatable bounce house, bonfires, meals around the clock and more, all sprinkled with lots of warmth and love from a group of very special young adults.

Shoham Weitzman, who will start 11th grade in September, helped organize the summer camp.

“To see these kids having fun fills me with joy,” he said. “I was very surprised by the public answering the call to help the summer camp succeed.”

Yossi Dagan, the head of the Samaria regional council, congratulated the teenagers involved in the project. “It is another story of Samaria’s wonderful youth, and it fills us with pride. There are those who say this generation is getting worse, and we say you have outdone all of us.”