City Notes: Young cancer patients attend extreme sports camp in Galilee

Local news from the North, South and Center.

By COMPILEDTAMARA ZIEVE
Participants in the Zichron Menachem camp in the Galilee last week. (photo credit: Courtesy)
Participants in the Zichron Menachem camp in the Galilee last week.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
NORTH
Some 100 young cancer patients attended a special three-day camp in the Galilee last week, which offered them the opportunity to take part in extreme sports. The Zichron Menachem organization was responsible for the event, aiming to spread cheer and help children and teenagers with cancer enjoy the start of spring like any other youngster. This was made possible by close supervision of a team of doctors, nurses and psychologists, as well as all the required medical equipment. The camp was held at the Kinar Hotel, and included ice skating at the Canada Center, bowling, a visit to the Golan Heights Winery, paint balling, sailing on Lake Kinneret, rafting on the Jordan River, jeep tours in the Hula Valley and a helicopter flight over Israel. While the children enjoyed all these activities, their parents had the chance to rest and take a break from their daily routines of taking the children for treatments and the challenges they deal with as a result of their children’s illnesses.
Chairman of the NGO, Haim Erenthal, explained that the idea behind the initiative comes from the fact that young cancer patients often miss out on the experiences that other children and adolescents enjoy. “While their peers are excited about the holiday and look forward to the fun and different experiences, sick children do not share in this joy and are left behind in their daily war against cancer,” he said. “Zichron Menachem tries to help them maintain a normal life by combining as many challenging experiences and adventures as possible.
“Our experience is that the camps, trips and events help them deal with the disease, no less than medical treatment,” he added. “It is heartwarming to see how one camp can give strength and hope, and the chance to experience some fun during adolescence.”
Hundreds take part in First Technion Challenge race
Hundreds of lecturers, students and employees from Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology took park in the First Technion Challenge race last week. The 5-km. race was held on the Technion campus as part of the Academic Sports Association field race league activities. “In this race there are no losers, only winners,” said Technion president Prof. Peretz Lavie a few seconds before he signaled the start of the race. “A few of you will be more victorious than others today, but no one will be a loser.”
“I am proud of the Technion’s students,” said Technion Student Association chairman Danny Magner. “The Technion is No. 1 not only in academics but also in sports.”
“It was a difficult route, with a lot of ups and downs, and I am happy that I managed to achieve a time of less than 20 minutes,” said Helen Wolfson, who won first place in the women students division and second place in the overall women’s division. Wolfson is a master’s degree student in the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, and trains the Technion’s staff team in her spare time. “Combining running and studying has always been a challenge for me, and I have to run even on days with the most lectures,” she said.
First place among the senior lecturers was won by Dr. Ari Gero of the Department of Science and Technology Education, who recorded a time of 21:58 minutes and came in 50th overall. He has been training for years, ever since he was a PhD student in the Faculty of Physics. His training buddy, Assistant Prof. Netanel Lindner of the Faculty of Physics, came in second.
Prof. Alon Hoffman, dean of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, took third place among the senior lecturers. “I am on the Technion’s running team and participate in the 220-km. mountain-to-valley ultra-man marathon every year, so today’s race wasn’t particularly difficult for me, despite the hilly route.”
Five injured in crash near Haifa
Five people were seriously injured Sunday in a car crash outside a shopping center in Yokne’am, not far from Haifa.
One person sustained serious injuries and was taken to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
Four others were lightly injured in the crash and were treated on site.
CENTER
18-year-old shot and seriously wounded in Tel Aviv
An approximately 18-year-old man was shot and seriously wounded on Yehuda Hayamit Street in Tel Aviv last weekend.
The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear. MDA paramedics arrived at the scene and treated the victim. Police launched an investigation into the incident.
Annual race held in memory of six fallen soldiers
An event titled “Race of the Six” is scheduled to take place in Rehovot next Friday, in memory of six soldiers from the Golani Signal Company unit who were killed in the helicopter disaster over She’ar Yashuv on February 4, 1997. The six fighters were killed on their way to carry out an operation at Beaufort Castle, Lebanon. A total of 73 soldiers were killed in the incident. This year the race will be held in the presence of Rehovot Mayor Rahamim Malul and Golani Brigade commander Col. Rasaan Alian. One of the six fallen soldiers from the Golani Signal Company unit, Gil Sharabi, was from Rehovot. The running track in the race is 6 km. long and the walking track is 3 km. At 9 a.m. a ceremony will be held for the fallen soldiers and at 9:30 the race will begin.
English-language Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony to be held in TA
An English-language Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony will be held in Tel Aviv next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Goren Community Center on Modigliani Street. The ceremony is run by the Adopt-a-Safta organization, the Israel Forever Foundation and Nefesh b’Nefesh. Entry to the ceremony is free of charge and will include testimony from survivors, readings from volunteers, a short film, and details about how people can contribute to alleviating the daily life of Israel’s lonely victims of the Holocaust.
Adopt-a-Safta is a non-profit initiative that pairs young professional internationals and Israelis with Holocaust survivors who feel lonely. Young volunteers “adopt” a grandmother or grandfather in Israel to provide them with company and attention. The NGO states that its goal is “to train as many volunteers as possible and to connect these two communities; young professionals seeking to make meaningful contributions, and the survivors in need of warmth and connection, while we still are blessed with the presence of this holy generation.”
SOUTH
Pedestrian hit, injured by car in Ashkelon
A pedestrian was hit by a car on Eli Cohen Street in Ashkelon last weekend. Magen David Adom medics and paramedics provided medical care to the approximately 40-year-old-man and evacuated him to Barzilai Medical Center. The man sustained a head injury and was in critical condition.
Eilat trains young street artists
In light of the success of the Eilat street theater festival run by the Eilat Municipality and Tourism Corporation, the School of Street Theater and the Eilat municipality are, for the third year, running a subsidized street art course. The four-month course costs NIS 2,500 and graduates will be employed in the street theater festival and events on the promenade.
These include living statues, figures from films, musical groups, trapeze artists, breakdancers, jugglers, acrobats and clowns all of whom have in recent years become part of the Eilat promenade landscape. Young Eilat residents will be trained at the school. “The Artist Program participants will be trained to perform in street theater, will learn to walk on stilts, to create living statues, and thus will be able to make a living from street theater and to integrate into the cultural events in Eilat, including the street theater festival and regular events which take place throughout the year on the promenade and round the city,” said Reut Shifman, who is herself a street artist and a professional medical clown. The target audience is age 20 and over.