On Wednesday, November 9, members of the "Oy Gevalt" Walking Group from Belgium were the honored guests at a ceremony dedicating the forest grove they had recently donated as part of the Carmel Forest restoration program. Andre Jawerbaum, the head of the group, spoke about how the idea had come about: "In honor of my birthday, my friends and family had an original idea – to help restore the Carmel Forest after the terrible December 2010 fire. They said that they weren’t interested in just a couple trees; they wanted an entire forest grove. We spoke with KKL-JNF and our vision became a reality. I would like to thank everyone here at today’s ceremony, especially the Belgian ambassador to Israel, who has graced us with her presence, and the people from KKL-JNF. This is a very joyous occasion for us."
392