By Ulla Hadar
TEL AVIV -On the 8th of June during the nationwide conference of social workers from all over Israel, the national organization conferred the “Henrietta Szold 2010 Award of Excellence” on the Sha’ar Hanegev municipality social service workers, headed by Marva Meizeles.
The committee’s citation said “This team has in the last years worked daily showing to everyone a shining example, how to work and at the same time cope during situations of stress and emergency. To other social workers their acts are a model to copy. They represent our trade and bring great pride to everyone working in the profession aiding people in the community.”
For the last ten years this team has acted in war situations and in an environment filled with stress and threatening situations.
The team has throughout the years developed new strategies and founded creative projects in order to support and help the citizens of the area. Today they are a role model for other social workers in Israel. Other municipalities and organizations have adopted ideas from the Sha’ar Hanegev social service department, mostly the ones dealing with how to cope with terror both on the personal and communal levels.
Most social workers working in the Sha’ar Hanegev municipality live and raise their families in the kibbutzim neighboring the Gaza Strip. They experience the same dangers as the people that they counsel.
These social workers are committed supporters of the community’s local leadership, and help to preserve the local and social pride of this area.
Five of the current team– Hannah Tal, Oded Ettinger, Orly Banay-Lender Marva Meizelez and Avital Nir — participated in the San Diego UJF Professional Exchange In 2006. While visiting San Diego, they met many San Diego social workers, observing their work first hand.
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Hadar is Sha’ar Hanegev bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World