From high risk youth to the heart of Israeli society
'If not for Nirim, I would have been in jail today, for sure,' says Y, a Nirim Graduate; 'We would’ve been either dead or in jail,' agrees another.
Nirim is a non-profit organization that works with teens that the State of Israel defines as high risk. It was founded in 2003 by Ziv Gershony, and ex-naval commando commander and brother-in-arms of the late Sgt. Nir Krichman, killed during a raid against terrorists in Nablus in 2002.
Nirim works to provide youth at high risk an opportunity, in many cases their last, to overcome their harsh life circumstances, discover their strengths, and become self-confident and successful members of society.
It changes the lives of 600 teens every year. The words youth at high risk hardly convey the magnitude of suffering and loss of hope that these children are exposed to. Physical and emotional violence, poverty, detachment and abandonment, drug and alcohol abuse, crime, low self-image and lack of confidence as well as an experience of failure from any educational framework, are just some of the toughest elements in the story of their lives.
Lior, Nirim graduate says: “Before I joined Nirim, I didn’t have any support and no one believed in me, I was my own parent and not a good one. My low confidence and situation at home led me to unhealthy decisions, relationships and a constant use of mood-changing drugs. Boys treated me badly and today I realize that I shouldn’t have let them use me like they did”.
She continued: “After living in the streets and seeing no future, I was sent to Nirim in order to give me one last chance. Needless to say that being sent to a village by court’s order wasn’t my first option but after a few short weeks I realized this was the place for me. I met so many new friends with difficult backgrounds that we share but now we all have one more thing in common, we all got the chance to a new beginning by Nirim, an opportunity I will forever be grateful for”.
“For many of us, if we weren’t sent to Nirim, we would’ve been either dead or in jail. Today I’m a successful soldier in an elite intelligence unit in the IDF and my plan is to one day become a doctor in order to give back to the community and save lives,” said Lior.
On November 1, Nirim will host its second gala dinner in New York City, featuring Israel’s consul general in New York, Dani Dayan and IDF General (res.) and former minister, Yossi Peled.
“Nirim’s prominence should not be in numbers, but in its affect on Israeli society. What better way to prominently affect Israeli society than create, mould, and inspire its future leaders!” Said Yoram Sagy CEO at Central Bottling Company group ltd.
“Let’s empower the youth of Nirim and turn them into leaders, leaders that other youth in Israel can look up too and say 'the future is ours to grasp’”, he concluded.
