MK Stav Shaffir (Zionist Union) turned on Tuesday to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon in a call to save the National Service program and immediately raise the budget allocated for volunteer activities.
Shaffir’s letter to the Finance Minister read: “I am turning to you as a former National Service volunteer who was part of a program to establish an educational group to work with at-risk youth in Tiberias, 12 years ago. As someone who knows the actions of the National Service volunteers from up close, as well as their needs and the financial distress within which they work, I call to you to immediately increase their budget, before we discover that too many youths abandon their dreams of contributing to Israeli society, as they cannot fund their National Service year from their own pockets.”