The first time that I truly understood the importance of the House of Grace was at my father’s funeral. The funeral had thousands of individuals from all religious backgrounds and a wide range of ages in attendance. It was clear not only by the sheer number of individuals in attendance but by the wide range of individuals, that my father had a massive impact on the entire community. Through the crowd, you could see endless expressions of grief over the loss of a man who had such a positive impact on so many individuals. You could feel the sadness in the air as you heard everyone expressing their grief. This was by far one of the hardest days of my life. After the funeral, I took the bus home and I was slouching deep into my chair, avoiding eye contact with everyone around me. I continued to hold back tears as I began to hear people on the bus talk about my father. They spoke of beautiful stories about their encounters with my father and any stories they knew of him. This allowed me to see the positive impact that my father had left. The words around me began to change the feeling in the air. It became inspiring and a slight smile began to breakthrough. It was at that moment that I understood the importance of my father’s work. I realized that it was something special and needed to continue. Although I was only 18 at the time I knew that the next step was to build upon the legacy of my father. Even though at the age of 18, I did not possess the necessary experience to lead the House of Grace that moment gave me the motivation and energy to continue its mission every day, keeping our doors always open while serving the community.
As I got older and gained more experience I could effectively put these feelings and ideas into action. Through my many years working here, there have been struggles and challenges but we have persevered and are even stronger today. looking at The House of Grace’s present situation, I know that we’ve experienced some setbacks. Yet Our staff has worked tirelessly even with recent challenges. The recent budget cuts are difficult, but nothing we cannot deal with. We must adapt because so many people depend on us. We will not let the setbacks disturb our mission and we continue to think of new ways to preserve and even expand it, regardless of the ongoing political issues prisoners, families, and people in need still have the support and dedication of our organization.
This year has been simultaneously prosperous yet challenging for the House of Grace. The staff aims to help the needs of the target group while dedicating time to the individuals and families, helping them break out of the cycle. For the upcoming year, we strive to continue our mission as well as to enhance the skills of our staff so they can better serve our clients. Our goals are to help these folks make a smooth transition into civilian life, resume family roles, and deal with the challenges of a changing society. In recent news, just before Christmas, after a lot of efforts to prevent a new threat of closing the halfway house with the help of some Knesset members we were able to bring up this issue to parliament. They decided to eliminate this threat and we were able to create a long-term contract with the rehabilitation committee to continue with the rehabilitation program and assuring the funds needed for that.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support, engagements, and prayers.
