Rishon LeZion invests in the future generation: leadership, volunteering, and community action
The municipality continues to put teenagers at the center, as the city recently celebrated the addition of 100 new volunteers to the Magen David Adom (MDA) youth division, alongside the establishment of a new IDF preparation center and the expansion of educational programs.
The Rishon LeZion municipality continues to put teenagers at the center, allocating significant resources to develop educational, value-based, informal, and social frameworks for them. These frameworks provide the city's future generation with tools to cope with life's challenges, strengthen their sense of capability, and encourage them to lead and influence.
For the past eight years, the youth sector has been led by Deputy Mayor and holder of the youth and young adults portfolio, Itay Matityahu, together with Mayor Raz Kinstlich and the Youth and Young Adults Department. Throughout the year, teenagers enjoy a wide range of programs: volunteering, leadership, community action, activities at the municipal sports complex, and IDF preparation groups. Currently, an IDF preparation center is being established in the city for the first time to provide professional support year-round.
Choosing to save lives
The teenagers of Rishon LeZion choose to save lives every day. Just this past July, 100 trainees, graduates of the ninth grade, completed a first aid course and officially joined the municipal MDA station. The MDA youth division continues to grow, with young people staffing ambulances and intensive care units as the right hand of the paramedic or medic. They arrive at real-life incidents, lend a hand, and operate in various medical situations.
Beyond medical work, the MDA youth division participates in securing events and humanitarian activities, such as distributing Purim gift baskets in nursing homes, community activities during Hanukkah, and Independence Day events. During summer vacation, volunteers participate in professional training, including a TARAN (mass casualty incident station) course and intensive care unit assistant training.
"The best medicine in society is volunteering"
"I have the privilege of leading the youth sector in the city, and I have no doubt that the most important investment a city can make is in its teenagers," notes Itay Matityahu. "We place great emphasis on leadership, preparation for the IDF and meaningful service, encouraging years of service and pre-military preparatory programs. I always say that the best medicine we have in Israeli society is volunteering and doing for others. These are the values we seek to instill in the young generation."
Raz Kinstlich, Mayor of Rishon LeZion, concludes: "Our teenagers who choose to volunteer at MDA are a source of great pride for all of Rishon LeZion. Volunteering at MDA is an expression of the values of responsibility, giving, mutual guarantee, and courage. I congratulate the 100 graduates who chose a path of action and meaning, and I hope they will serve as a model for many in the city."
