(Courtesy of AMIT) AMIT Children concluded the calendar year in record fashion—raising almost 13 million dollars to help educate AMIT’s 41,000 children in 104 schools across Israel.
“This year presented unique challenges on every level and I am so very proud of what AMIT collectively was able to accomplish,” said Audrey Axelrod Trachtman, AMIT’s president, “We exceeded our pre-COVID annual campaign goal because our partners around the world are so committed to our students, who they view as their own children.”
When COVID hit Israel’s schools last March, AMIT staff nimbly shifted to remote learning while ensuring that every child had what they needed to continue their education as effectively as possible. In many cases, that meant providing a computer, internet access, and, for the most at-risk, a range of vital support services including counseling. “COVID presented many challenges to our students, but we found that our principals, teachers and students worked together as a team to meet obstacles head on and found creative ways to overcome them,” said Joyce Straus, AMIT’s Board of Directors co-chair, “In some cases it even meant providing nutritional support to those feeling the impact of the COVID-induced economic crisis.”
AMIT charted out a plan for every student in the network individualized to meet their needs. “1:1 attention is one of the great strengths of our network,” said Sharon Merkin, board co-chair. “Every child has an individualized plan to help see them through this crisis. That culture, along with AMIT’s revolutionary Gogya teaching methodology, enabled us to hold our students close virtually throughout the pandemic.”
Broad donor support helped AMIT to send an extra million dollars to help cover COVID-induced expenses. “When the crisis hit, we knew we needed to respond immediately. I’m thrilled that our supporters on every level were so responsive even when facing challenges here,” said vice-president Shari Safra, “They gave our staff in Israel the ability to respond immediately and put our students’ needs first.”
Helping meet a national challenge is nothing new to AMIT—in its 96-year history, AMIT has evolved to become an integral part of the fabric of Israeli society, with over 320,000 alumni across the Jewish state. AMIT enables Israel’s youth to realize their potential and strengthens Israeli society by educating and nurturing children from diverse backgrounds within a framework of academic excellence, Jewish values and Zionist ideals.
