Biking Tour at the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
This morning started off with some great exercise with a mountain bike ride through rigorous terrain. We learned about all of the agriculture and land that is being preserved and protected from the hostile intruders who would otherwise steal the crops.
Soccer with Ethopian and Israeli-born youth
We then headed to play soccer against an Israeli and Ethiopian born youth who are part of the Hapoel- Yokneam team. We took turns in a 6 on 6 soccer game with four Rubinites and two youth per team. It was a friendly competitive game and everyone enjoyed the game which ended in a 6/6 draw
Morad Winery & Fruit Liqueurs
We learned about Jacob and Eti Morad’s family wine making business. They create wine from many different fruits. They are most well known for passionfruit and pomegranate wine. We sampled many different wines including: melon, apple, pomegranate, passionfruit, as well as chocolate and coffee liqueurs.
The Kol HaLev Food Pantry
This food pantry assists 100 families, 600 people, in Yokneam-Meggido. When we arrived we learned about how Yochai started this food pantry. Yochai is a wonderful 86 year old man. He shared his story with us of how he survived, even though the boat he was working on was bombed during The Six Day War. He feels so thankful to be alive, and now he works everyday, operating the food pantry. After a very informative introduction we started working. We worked together, as a team, to package the food for distribution to these local families. Our group has been growing closer as each day of our trip passes, while at the food pantry, we really cooperated for a greater cause. We were all truly happy to be helping in our sister city. In a relatively short period of time, we packaged food for two weeks for each of the 100 families.
Dinner with Host Families