Mayor Rotem Yadlin and CEO Carmel Tal of the Gezer Region in Israel recently visited Kansas City to thank the community for the support it has shown in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks.
The Gezer Region is the sister city of Leawood, Kansas.
According to Andi Milens, chief planning officer for Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, who helped coordinate the visit, the trip was Yadlin’s idea. Not only did she want to express her gratitude for the support Gezer received from Kansas City after Oct. 7, but “she also knows that it’s not an easy time for Jews in the United States, and she wanted to show her support for us,” Milens said.
During their visit, Yadlin and Tal met with Leawood city administrators and elected officials, including former Mayor Peggy Dunn, newly-installed Mayor Mark Elkins, Jewish community member and former City Councilmember Andrew Osman and Councilmember Mary Larson.
Last November, the Leawood City Council donated $25,000 to Gezer to pay for a bomb shelter for kindergarten students so they would be able to return to school. The donation, which was facilitated through Jewish Federation, was proposed by Osman and was unanimously approved.
“During our time of need in the last three months, both the city of Leawood and the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas [City] really came [to] our support,” Yadlin said in an interview with Channel 41 KSHB. “I think this is what sister cities are about.”
Leawood and the Gezer Region have been sister cities for more than 20 years. In 2009, Leawood dedicated the 10-acre Gezer Park in honor of its sister city.
“I want the people of Leawood to know that they have friends in Israel, and we will always be there for them and to thank them for being here for us,” Yadlin told Channel 41.
Yadlin and Tal also met with many members of the Jewish community, expressing their thanks for the community’s support. They met with members of Federation’s board of directors, donors to Federation’s Israel Emergency Campaign, agency and synagogue leaders and residents of Village Shalom.
Yadlin gave a presentation to each group, describing not only the horrors of Oct. 7 but also how Gezer started to create a sense of “normalcy” for its citizens.
“What we realized really fast… is that we need to rebuild our community,” she said. “Everyone lost their sense of security. Everyone lost their strength.”
One of the first things the community did was to rally around the troops that came into the region for training after Oct. 7. There wasn’t enough room on the bases for all the Israel Defense Forces soldiers, so they stayed in the schools. Members of the community fed the soldiers and brought them into their homes so they could take showers.
“They stayed for two and a half weeks, and you could see as they were going back, as we said our goodbyes… there was a sense of meaning in those two weeks,” Yadlin said.
Another important step in rebuilding the community was to establish a routine, which meant opening the community centers and restarting various programs. Support groups were started, and discounts were offered for gym memberships and after-school activities.
“We reopen the schools, because that’s the best place for a kid to be during a war,” she said.
Milens said Yadlin’s presentation drew people into what Israelis experienced on Oct. 7 and “helped us really understand what this partnership (between Gezer and the Kansas City community) means.”
Yadlin ended her presentation to Federation’s board by sharing a picture of her father, who was a young pilot during the Yom Kippur War.
“He said, ‘Everyone comes different out of the war,’” she said, “...and I know that I’ll become stronger out of this war. And I know that all of us as a community, as a nation, as a people, will come stronger out of this war.”
