Charity pledges to send 10,000 young people to Israel in three years

UJIA, the charity that promotes young people’s connections to Israel, says it will facilitate 10,000 visits in three years to the country to make up for lost time during Covid.

The charity supported over 30 programmes of Israel engagement this summer, benefiting youth movements, synagogues, schools and special educational needs specialists across the country.

But now it has pledged increased investment to boost the number of youngsters taking organised trips to Israel.

“Our goal is to facilitate 10,000 such visits to Israel in the next three years. Formative experiences in Israel are crucial to the future strength of our Jewish community,” said the charity’s chief executive, Mandie Winston.

Extra bursaries will be on offer for the trips, she added, so that “cost will not prohibit anyone from participating.”

While trips have been on hold for the previous two summers, informal education events have still gone ahead despite the pandemic.

“We are so proud of our partners in the youth movements and across the community for the amazing job they have done up and down the country under really challenging circumstances,” said Ms Winston.

“We can’t wait to start resuming trips to Israel and making up for lost time.”