By Rachel Eisenstein, 11th Grade

Wednesday, the 5th of June at 3 pm was an exciting time for the Derech Emunah students. We convened in the specially decorated classroom which was now a  Charidy Campaign Call Center. The room was lined with tables covered with call sheets, donation forms, phone lists, cell phones, and small orange-colored bells (to ring each time we received a new donation).

Within half an hour of the campaign start, the room was filled with the sounds of bells going off at random times as students reached out to relatives, friends, community members, and former teachers, asking for their support. 

The donation dollars were projected on a big screen in our Call Center for all to see. It showed every new gift in real-time.as supporters from all over the U.S. and Israel posted their gift on the Charidy.com website (see above image showing final amount raised).

The dollars flowed in rapidly, B"H, and the Total Donations number continued to go up quickly as it moved closer and closer to the Goal of raising $120,000 in 24 hours.

Our thanks to the many Derech Emunah student callers, community volunteers, people posting on social media and Mr. Michael Friend and Rabbi Michael Cohen for all their hard work.  A shout out to Mrs. Shelly Russak, Chair of the Development Committee who put together an incredible Campaign team and was the lead volunteer managing the entire effort.

Derech Emunah reached its $120,000 Goal before 8 pm that night. This was less than 5 hours after the campaign started!  And we still had 16 more hours to go!

A Bonus round was activated, increasing the initial target goal from $120,000 to $162,500. As students with a stake in the outcome, we continued to watch the frenzied activity on the Charidy fundraising website. It was beautiful and crazy at the same time! To our surprise, donations kept coming in, and the numbers continued to climb all night.  Amazingly, even the bonus goal was reached and surpassed before noon on Thursday!

The Derech Emunah Charidy Campaign ended Thursday at 3 pm, 24 hours after its start on Wednesday. A total of $164,355 was raised.

Thank you to all the donors who gave so generously to help ensure our education!

Above: A screen shot of the Campaign website showing the total amount raised.To watch the school video we posted on the Charidy website, click here. 

Below: Derech Emunah students hard at work making calls during the Charidy campaign

On Tuesday night, June 11th, 2019, Derech Emunah took great pride in graduating its 4th senior class.

Each of our five 2019 graduates spoke beautifully at their graduation. They include:

Sarala Bresler, Miriam Condiotty, Devora David, Shoshanah Ghanooni and Atara Scott-Thoennes

The article below represents the thoughts of Devorah David, graduating senior, delivered at the commencement ceremony.

Derech Emunah, as we all know, means "Path Of  Faith." In Chumash class this year, we learned about Yaakov Avinu fleeing from Eisav and sleeping on Har Hamoriah. Yaakov had a prophetic dream in which he imagined a ladder reaching to the heavens, with two sets of Malachim, angels, one set advancing up the ladder and the other moving down the ladder -- never stopping on any of the steps.

To me, this story describes the powerful lesson of what our school represents and my own personal experience at Derech Emunah. We are  taught, "To grow and reach the next step, no matter how impossible it may seem." The ladder represents the growth we have attained at Derech Emunah, as my Chumash teacher nicely put it, "we are never locked into one place on our own ladder."

Since 9th grade, we have all grown in our Emunah in Hashem. Whether we were trying to pass a test or struggling to understand new material - in the end, we saw the hope and the reward.

Derech Emunah has taught me, and my classmates - to never give up hope, but rather - to keep trying, because ultimately, in the end, the main thing that counts is the effort we put in, not just the results. As it says in Perkai Avos, "לפום צרה אגרה״ - "according to the effort is the reward."

I would like to thank my teachers and Rabbi Cohen, Head of School for helping me suceed and learn from my mistakes.

Above all, I would like to thank הקדוש ברוך הוא for bringing me to this milestone in my life and to my parents for helping me grow and always encouraging me to do my best.

Below: Devorah David delivering her Graduation remarks