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Handwritten note. click here

Why Our Place has to stay open. When I was 15, I felt everybody hated me. I started taking pain killers and smoking a lot of pot. This all started because I lived at home and my mother used to constantly verbally abusive and many times even physically. I was neglected of love period and used to always thing of killing myself. I was really feeling I would never become happy. It was then that I was sent to Our Place. When I came there I felt so amazing that there were people that cared about me. I was actually treated like a human being. This came to me as a shock. At home I felt like a slave I was scrubbing cabinets, ovens. I was constantly being overworked. I was taken out of school at 13 and I never had an education. Our Place provided education for me. If Our Place did not exist I could have and may very have killed myself. Our Place provided me happiness which I never felt in my life. If Our Place closed down, there could possibly be hundreds maybe thousands of kids ending up on drugs and in terrible situations. Suicide may possibly increase amongst kids too. At the end of the day, If Our Place gets shut down, or is allowed to close, hundreds of kids lives will be affected and shut down as well. Please keep Our Place open for the sake of hundreds of others who are in similar positions.

Anonymous- Flatbush

I was extremely unhappy to hear that Our Place is considering closing. During my high school years I was considered a loser. I experienced depression on a daily basis and had nobody to talk with. One evening a friend of mine dragged me to Our Place and told me to just have a good time and be myself. At Our Place, I was able to meet and interact with various people who helped boost my social life and self esteem. The counselors were the first people to ever show me any empathy and cared about my problems. They spoke to me, gave me advice, and helped me get back on tract. I was suicidal and depressed during my teen years, but after meeting new people and going to Our Place, I found a new life started over. I don't know where I would be without Our Place, but I can assure that I would not in the good position I am now. Today, I still hang out with people I met there, and it has been 5 years. Our Place is like a second family to me and helped improve the quality of my life.

I.R. -Flatbush N.Y.

Dear Our Place, We love you so much! This is the best place. It keeps me and everyone alive. We need you guys.

Love, Nathen

Our Place is important to me because it gives me a free kosher food and an only boys place to work out. It has the best assortment of exercise machines for us to use. I can always rely on Our Place to provide us with a hot fresh dinner to eat when I am not home. The rabbis and staff are always there to answer any questions I have be it technique or life guidance related. It gives me a place to go where the staff does not judge me about how I dress or how I am doing in school. Our Places goal is to ensure my well being and the well being of other teen and of Yiddisha kinderlach. Our Place cannot be allowed to close.

B.S.-

Our Place has helped me a lot by giving me a place to go if I ever had any problems or troubles. I know that if anything ever happened the rabbis will always be there to help me and others. It's a scary thought to think it might close down. Where will we all go? Who is going to help us? Our Place has helped people through thick and thin and it will always be there for everyone. Please help them because they help us.

Anonymous

It is important to keep Our Place. The fact that this place is my only home, feeds me, keep me out of trouble and when I really need they help me buy clothes because my parents don't is reason enough.

S.Y.

My parents sent me to live at Ohel many years ago. I have been in many foster homes and never felt good growing up. Our Place is somewhere where I can go to relax and stay out of trouble. I am able to work out and enjoy my free time. Until I came to Our Place I did not know what it was to have someone in my life that cared. Y.K. My name is Mendy. I am 29 years old and I have been coming to Our Place for 15 years and they have always been there for me. I have seen the help they do for everyone giving help to those in need. This is a fun place to be in. The staff here is very good to all the people here. I like to say thank you to all the man and women who help us here. Thank you so much.

Mendy

Our Place is a very important program since it keeps teenagers off the streets and out of trouble.

Y.S.

Our Place is a great place with a great staff that will do anything to keep the kids happy. They give us food and they give us cigarettes when we need. They are as loving and accepting as your own family. Our Place keeps us off the streets and has helped me personally a lot. So, thank you Our Place.

A.B.

I learned a lot about myself and being a nice jewish guy. I learned how to play pool, table tennis and made many friends at our place.

R.B. (Random Boy)

My name is Yair. I have now been coming to our place for four years. I learned a lot from being here but there is something else I would like to talk about that I feel is more important. It is my home and you can all guess what I am referring towards, Our Place. They have been my home since the day I came in. When someone tries to take your home, or throw you out, it is not right and feels wrong. Forget about the fact that I am not going to have my home anymore, let us focus on all the guys who come here. Over all the years that I have been attending, never have I seen less than 30 guys on a given night. This means, if Our Place was to close, because they are out of money all these kids are going to lose a home, food, warmth, tv and people who care about us.

I asked someone I know for my whole life what Our Place meant to them, I got this: Our Place is my number one. The staff is my parents, the tables here remind me of my dining room table and other guys here are my siblings. The TV is the family chill spot. I have been in and out of yeshivas, rehabs and institutions. I have never felt more comfortable then in Our Place. Without our Place I am lost in a field with no reason or purpose. When I first walked into Our Place I remember lying to Chaim Glancz and Sonny Perlman that I was 16. I was really 13. I lied because I felt a sense of belonging for the first time and wanted to stay. I am writing this letter for you to read, and not necessarily for you to give Our Place money or pity, but for the world. I believe the world and people can understand what it feels like to lose your home.

Yair Our Place

I have had the pleasure of volunteering at Our Place in New York for the past 10 years. Our Place is a drop in center for teens who would be I trouble if they had no safe place to spend their evenings. I witnessed, over time, how many of these lively teens have gone from a troubled or at least difficult life, to become outstanding young adults who are assets to society. Most people would be surprised to see how far a little love can go. It is not an easy job but I find it is very rewarding. I pray that we can keep our doors open to service these young people.

MG

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