Today, International Day of Friendship, is the perfect time to highlight an IFCJ Canada-supported soccer camp project — called Hapoel Katamon — since it offers Israeli children from underprivileged areas of Jerusalem the chance to make friends through playing soccer together. It is a community strengthening program and allows children from different backgrounds to join together, make friends, cooperate in teamwork, and enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

And since many of these children face poverty and division in their neighbourhoods, this program helps them to build bridges of understanding and create stronger bonds — which is the basis for International Day of Friendship. The program fights bias and discrimination, too, by connecting children of different backgrounds and showing them that by building friendships and solidarity, we can create a healthier and more connected world!

IFCJ Canada proudly supports this project that uses sports to reach out and provide for the needs of Israeli children in disadvantaged families and neighbourhoods. In addition to soccer camps, the program also offers after-school learning centers and other activities. Instead of going home to empty houses or roaming the streets, the program gives these children a chance to grow in a structured environment with volunteers ready to help them with school work, self-esteem, and other important life skills.