Lihi Lapid, author, columnist, president of Shekel, Organization for Inclusion of People with Disabilities, and wife of Interim PM Yair Lapid, paid a first visit to the ADI Ofakim Vocational Center Beit HaYotzer on Monday, September 12. Lapid arrived with MK Yasmin Saks to join Beit HaYotzer staff and employees in a pre-New Year celebration, wishing all participants a sweet and happy year filled with good health and success.
โYou are spearheading a movement that entails great significance, establishing a society of integration and acceptance that is attentive to everyone. Increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities lowers barriers, breaks down walls and brings people together. Every person has a potential for self-fulfillment. Every person can contribute. Your initiative, providing a place for people to come to each morning, a reason to leave the house and a place in which they can interact with other people, be respected and appreciated, encompasses an entire world. You are leading a task of unrivalled importance and I am thrilled to be here.โ
Roโi Rappaport, director of the ADI Ofakim Beit HaYotzer Vocational Center replied that, โmaking a toast together with the special employees of Beit HaYotzer strengthens the understanding that our team is always in the center. Beit HaYotzer is a home which generates love and providing an opportunity for people with disabilities to work allows each individual to understand that they are complete entities in and of themselves. There is no limit to the creativity of Beit HaYotzer employees. We are so proud of them.โ
The ADI Ofakim Vocational Center is a joint initiative of ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services and the Municipality of Ofakim. Founded on the belief that everyone deserves gainful and meaningful employment, the workshop provides individuals with varied levels of disabilities with a host of creative opportunities and a framework for personal advancement, employment, and social integration through vocational therapy. The workshop currently employs some 60 individuals from diverse backgrounds.
