Throughout the JDS hallways are advertisements for a wristband campaign. Just look around and you’ll be blinded by the bright yellow color of the Live Strong bracelets.

You’ll also notice a plethora of additional bracelets with their respective inspirational messages: I Will, Unite to Fight, Expand Express Embrace Engage Enable, are just some of the messages on the different color bracelets.

Already a new bracelet has begun to conquer the hallways, one with a deeply meaningful message to the community: StandStrong 4 Israel.

“I’m excited to get the bracelets because of what they represent,” said freshman Alli Marmon. “I really need to stand by Israel right now and the bracelet will always remind me of that when I look at it. I’m also excited about wearing it because people will notice it and I can inform them where to get the bracelet if they wanted to support Israel as well.”

This version of the Livestrong bracelet was brought to the school courtesy of the senior grade government and is one of the newest in the long line of Livestrong impersonators.

The senior grade government priced the bracelets at three dollars each and, according to Secretary of Senior Events Nicola Brodie, plans to “donate the $2.65 which is the cost of the bracelet to the Students Against Terrorism organization and the ‘profit’ [$.35 remainder] to a charity to be voted on later by grade government.”

The same class that is currently counting down the days until the grade trip to Israel contacted Ben Fine to purchase the bracelets. Fine is the head of Students Against Terrorism that is responsible for supplying the school as well as other organizations including local synagogue Washington Hebrew, with the bracelets that promote support for Israel.

Brodie is optimistic about the bracelets’ popularity in the school, but understands that they probably will not reach the popularity of the Livestrong bands.

“To be honest, I think we are getting into the market a little bit late, [but] I think at our school they’ll be very popular and they’re still trendy. I don’t think anyone is going to turn down supporting Israel,” said Brodie.

The money donated to Students Against Terrorism for the cost of the bracelets will later be donated to an organization called Camp Koby. The camp is named in memory of Koby Mandell, a 13-year old Israeli killed in a terrorist attack. The slogan for this camp is “The Koby Mandell Foundation: healing broken hearts.”

The camp provides an environment where the siblings and children of those killed in terrorist attacks can go and express their feelings. “It’s not like you want people to make you feel better, but you want people to feel with you. Here, kids are not alone, and that’s very liberating,” according to kobymandell.org.

To sophomore Jillian Berman, it is a new and necessary organization for the school community to support. “It sounds like the type of organization that focuses on something different than where most of [the school’s] money to Israel [goes], like to helping terror victims. It is also important to have organizations to help people in other ways,” said Berman.

The encouraging message featured on the Israel bands has an important meaning to Berman.
“Stand strong 4 Israel means using your place as an American Jew to help better the situation in Israel. Basically using the outlets we have here in America, like being able to lobby to the government, to be aware of whats going on and being able to act on it and see what we can do to help,” Berman said.

Livestrong itself, the inspiration for the Stand Strong 4 Israel bracelet, remains the most successful sales campaign its kind.

The bracelet was made to honor cancer survivor and 6-time Tour de France cyclng champion Lance Armstrong. The Lance Armstrong Foundation, together with the bracelets, is responsible for donating millions of dollars to cancer research.

Although wearing the bracelets has become something of a fashion trend, success does not ultimately come from the number of people wearing them, but the number of people whose lives have been improved by the far-reaching charity these bracelets represent.

additional reporting by Corey Cines