The 2023 Foundation - Origins
Michael and Dracaena Scott lived in Israel for 27 months (2019-2021). It was our happy home and is filled with many life-long friends. The October 7 Hamas attack was an attack on all of us, our values and our way of life—not just Israelis and not just Jewish people. I feel strongly about this.
Michael knows the South; Be’eri, Ofakim … He knows the people, the cafes, the communities. Together with his riding buddies, Avi and Ran, he rode extensively through those areas.
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, Michael’s 18-year-old daughter, Georgie, attended a music concert. Only the concert was in Sydney (Australia) and not Israel. Had they lived in Israel, she would likely have been at Supernova. Michael grieves for what happened to those kids who ‘just wanted to dance’ there, feeling the loss as deeply as if it had happened to his own daughter, Georgie.
Those events were horrible, as were the reactions of so many Australians—and of so many others across the ‘developed’ world. It is all Orwellian! The chants at the Sydney Opera House soon thereafter were despicable. The treatment of Jewish students at supposedly tolerant and enlightened campuses in the United States and elsewhere was unacceptable. Since October 7, these events have affected Michael deeply, stirring a strong desire to step up and make a real difference.
We are motivated and feel compelled to do something, to make a meaningful difference that delivers change. Through the 2023 Foundation, Michael is providing leadership and leveraging a professional lifetime of knowledge, skills, and experience to incrementally build and bequeath a legacy we can look back on with pride. Dracaena and Michael are focused on collaborating with those who share their values, vision, and verve for change. Together, we can and will make a difference.
Am Yisrael Chai. יחד ננצח