West Hemp girl raises cash for AMIT in Jerusalem run

West Hempstead resident Raquel Bodner ran in the Jerusalem Matathon as a member of Team AMIT, helping to raise more than $16,000 for the children of AMIT Frisch Beit Hayeled.

She is currently studying at Midreshet AMIT in Jerusalem, and recently participated in the Jerusalem Marathon.

Beit Hayeled, in the Gilo section of Jerusalem, is a home to 110 children, ages 5 to 15, in foster care.

The young women who attend Midreshet AMIT, a post high school program in which Bodner is enrolled, live on the Beit Hayeled campus where they engage in advanced Judaic studies and serve as “big sisters” to the children living there.

The funds raised by the 50-member Team AMIT will be used to help the Beit Hayeled children celebrate their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

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, religious values and Zionist ideals.

Some 70 percent of AMIT’s more than 28,000 students live in development towns or other “peripheral” areas of the country. AMIT approaches each child as an individual, maximizing his or her potential, and enabling their students to become vital, productive members of Israeli society.

The AMIT schools promote religious tolerance, service to the state and the recognition that every child is blessed with unique talents and abilities. Founded in 1925, AMIT operates 110 schools, youth villages, surrogate family residences and other programs.