On Wednesday evening, September 30, the children of Moshav Sde Nitzan took the stage. They had spent two weeks in art and musical theater workshops, and that night they shared their work with their neighbors in an exhibit and live performance. Residents, the Embassy of the Philippines to Israel, and delegations from Operation Blessing and NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief filled the room to watch.
The evening was a tribute to the Sde Nitzan Community Healing Hub, which marked one year of community rebuilding. For NATAN, it was a chance to celebrate what this community built, and what happens when people are trusted to lead their own recovery.
A village that fell through the cracks
Sde Nitzan is home to about 120 families, 7.2 kilometers from the Gaza border. That puts it roughly 200 meters outside the 7-kilometer perimeter the government set for its “Tkumah” rehabilitation fund. After the community was evacuated following October 7, 2023, it received no state recovery grants.
After six months of displacement, community life had frayed, and many residents stayed isolated at home. The moshav did not wait for help to arrive. Volunteers surveyed roughly 100 households, including bereaved families, and 80 percent responded. The message was clear: people wanted a place to be together.
Building the hub from the ground up
Dozens of local volunteers, aged 18 to 82, took on the project. The site was a decommissioned weapons storage facility, and over weeks of labor residents:
- Demolished interior armory walls
- Overhauled the plumbing
- Installed donated furniture
- Created an exhibition of historic village photographs
With Operation Blessing’s support, the moshav’s former artillery room became three dedicated spaces: an art room for children’s psychosocial healing, an outdoor deck, and a café bar.
A hub that serves every generation
Today the hub runs on volunteer power and is the center of intergenerational life in the village. Youth, parents, and village founders gather side by side. The weekly rhythm includes Friday afternoon family hours and open social evenings. Once a month, the hub hosts decompression sessions arranged exclusively for local active-duty soldiers returning home.
Operation Blessing committed a full year of strategic sponsorship, in direct collaboration with NATAN and local partners. The grant covers essential facility infrastructure and funds ongoing psychosocial programming led by NATAN’s professional volunteers. That programming uses structured group dynamics, volunteer resilience training, and communal fellowship as tools for healing the long-term effects of trauma and displacement.
Voices from the evening
Teri Bautista, Vice Consul of the Embassy of the Philippines to Israel, spoke about why this kind of work matters: “When disasters strike, immediate emergency relief is only the beginning. True recovery requires continuous psychosocial care to help heal the unseen wounds of trauma. Israel stood with the Philippines in our darkest hours, and today we stand wholeheartedly with this community. You are never alone, because the Filipino people are with you.”
Michal Uziyahu, mayor of the Eshkol Regional Council, reflected on what set this effort apart: “To overcome trauma and rebuild resilience, a community needs to know it is not alone and that it has the power within itself to heal. Communities like Sde Nitzan that fell outside the state’s official Tkumah perimeter could have easily been overlooked, but NATAN and Operation Blessing stepped forward immediately. They didn’t just show up and say, ‘We are here with you’—they empowered our residents to lead their own recovery. Sde Nitzan will never be the same after what happened, but it is far stronger and more resilient today because of this support.”
Gigi Endaya, Executive Director of Operation Blessing Foundation Philippines, Inc., spoke about the children: “When the emergency phase passed, we knew we could not simply walk away. Opening this Community Healing Hub alongside NATAN reflects our deep, ongoing commitment to walking beside Israeli communities as they heal. Watching the children of Sde Nitzan connect, create, and find joy through these workshops proved that hope speaks louder than any language barrier. Our goal is to bring not just relief, but long term resilience and dignity to families recovering from trauma.”
And Gil Reines, Board Chair of NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief, closed with gratitude: “Operation Blessing has stood beside us as a beacon of hope and solidarity, helping bring communities back together to foster intergenerational connection and psychosocial healing following the trauma and displacement following October 7. Tonight, we are honored to celebrate the remarkable strength and resilience of the Sde Nitzan community, and the lasting impact of our shared initiative.”
What Sde Nitzan teaches us
At NATAN, we believe relief doesn’t end when the emergency phase does. The Community Healing Hub shows what recovery looks like when a community is empowered to lead it, with partners who stay for the long haul. We are grateful to the residents of Sde Nitzan, to our partners at Operation Blessing, and to the Embassy of the Philippines for standing with this community.