Did you ever meet a politician who means what he says? The very word ‘politician’ connotes duplicity, kissing babies to get votes. How many politicians have made grandiose promises to benefit their constituents and conveniently forgot each one after being elected to office. Are there any politicians who really care about people? Really?
Recently, Raanana Deputy Mayor Chaim Goldman took the day off from his everyday occupations and municipal obligations to join 150 other volunteer drivers who all came with their own jeeps and four wheel drive terrain vehicles to take part in a jeeping trip for Ezer Mizion’s summer camp for cancer patients and their families.
The trip is one of the highlights of the summer for cancer patients and their families. The nightmare that has entered their lives has virtually destroyed every smile in their being. Only discomfort, fear, pain and terror inhabit their inner world. Their spirit weakens and is unable to partner with the body in its battle for life. Ezer Mizion fights this depression by creating ‘fun days’, birthday parties, retreats and trips.
Deputy Mayor Goldman, who has been volunteering with Ezer Mizion as a jeep driver for the last decade, led a line-up of jeeps that took campers from Givat Olga through scenic routes, fields and dirt roads to the Takun Fortress. Each jeep carried a child or parent with cancer together with his family.
Goldman: “To wake up in the morning without asking myself, ‘What did I do for somebody else’ just doesn’t happen to me. That’s why I volunteer regularly. It keeps my life in the right proportions.”
This was the second jeeping mission that Deputy Mayor Goldman participated in this summer season as part of Ezer Mizion’s summer camp programs. His first jeeping trip was facilitated by Ezer Mizion’s Mental Health Division, enabling a group of adult rehab clients to taste a day of fun within the confines of their limitations.
“We are delighted at the warm response of volunteer drivers who gave up a day at work or a day off to join us and drive our campers at this special jeeping excursion,” said Dr. Bracha Zisser, director of Ezer Mizion’s cancer support services. “Their involvement and giving has become an integral part of our summer camp experience and is part of the unforgettable, energizing experience our summer camps create for cancer patients and their families.”
