Sderot’s budding fashionistas
A New Yorker donates her bat mitzvah money for a design class for girls in the southern Israeli town
The southern town of Sderot, better known for its rockets and rock bands, recently added a fashion show to its local calendar.
Some 45 local girls, who spent more than a year learning the crafts of design and sewing, showed off their finished products late last week.
They had all participated in a fashion design training program at the local community center, paid for by New Yorker Sabina Sternklar-Davis, who donated NIS 40,000 of her bat mitzvah money to establish the class.
The funds paid for sewing equipment, manuals and instructors specializing in sewing and design.
Sternklar-Davis, who attends a similar class in New York, said she wanted to give kids her age in Sderot a “creative and fun outlet” away from the constant stress of missiles from Gaza.
Sternklar-Davis’ parents have been very involved in Sderot and the family donated the money though the UJA-Federation of New York’s Give A Mitzvah-Do A Mitzvah program, geared for bar and bat mitzvah celebrants who want to contribute to one of the organization’s projects.