Commack High student Logan Freiberg helps children in Israel

A Commack High School student is helping to create a safe play and recreation center for children in Israel.

Logan Freiberg, a junior, recently raised $820 to help fortify the recreation center in the city of Sderot, which has been the target of rockets from the Gaza Strip. Freiberg was inspired to collect money for the center while studying abroad last year at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, for which she was awarded a scholarship to attend by the Jewish National Fund.

In total, Freiberg and about 20 other students who had also studied in Israel raised $5,000 for the cause. Freiberg collected her portion from family and friends via social media.

“These kids have no control over the conflict,” Freiberg said. “They need a place to forget about the conflict and be kids.”

Freiberg also serves as a local board member of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and she raised about $4,000 for the American Cancer Society as part of a local Relay for Life event. She was inspired to collect money for the society after her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, she said.

Freiberg, 17, is also a board member of her school’s Hebrew Culture Club and a member of the school’s site-based management team, which is a group of students, parents and school staff that makes building-level decisions. In addition, she is part of the Human Rights and Political Activists clubs, and the National, English, History, Math, Science and Spanish honor societies.

 — MICHAEL R. EBERT