Dr. Stephen Wolnek, a resident of Pt. Washington, NY, is a Vice President of JNF, honorary president of United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, and on the Board of the Jewish Community Relations Council was in Israel from July 19-25. He traveled there on a Nefesh B'Nefesh flight, which is always a moving experience, but this one was more so given the crisis. Five hundred people greeted them at the airport.

• From there he went straight to the Nes Harim camp site in American Independence Park, where he spoke to some families from up north who were camped out escaping the rocket attacks. One man, who lives in a hi-rise building in Haifa, said that when the sirens sounded it took them so long to get down to the ground floor and then the bunker, that the Katyusha could have landed already.
• He spoke to two kids from Sderot, there with their grandmother who spoke only Russian. The 4-year-old girl couldn't stop talking about her activities in the camp. The 10-year-old boy talked about the Kassams that reached Sderot but spoke matter-of-factly, like he had grown accustomed to living like that.
• Then he met bus-loads of 150 kids in grades 1-8, who had arrived from the north—Haifa, Carmiel — without their parents

He spoke to a group of 12-year-old girls who were so relieved to be there and away from the bombing. Each had at least one sibling in the army. Their parents were still at home. They were looking forward to all the activities and reprieve from the fighting.

A group of boys from Sderot were so happy to have the time out—it was unexpected, this luxury of being away from the shelling. They had heard about it in the papers and on the news and were looking forward to the activities—swimming, the zoo. Steve said it was clear it had been well thought out and these kids would be well taken care of.

• He then traveled with the Conference of Presidents and had intensive briefings with government officials including the Prime Minister
• He went to Haifa —it was half empty—ghost-like. He said the damage from the little pellets that rain out of the Katyushas "made an automobile look like Swiss cheese."
• On to the Rambam hospital where he met the only surviving soldier of the original ambush, very badly injured. He met with the parents of wounded soldiers.

"As far as the importance, the significance of what we're doing with Operation Security Blanket," said Stephen, "it's vital. In this type of situation, instead of seeing kids cowering in bomb shelters, they're smiling and relieved. The camps are very much appreciated and needed."