Israel-Gaza War Fundraiser for Disability Families

Due to the generous donation we received, were able to fulfill most of the emergency needs of our clients, their families, and employees who needed help. As our constituents' needs changed, we flexibly provided differing services to meet their needs.

At the start of the war, while Israel’s Homefront Command ordered our centers closed, we reached out to the staff and families of all 25 centers and programs to see what could be done to help. Our most vulnerable populations were in Ashkelon, shut in their homes and air raid shelters as thousands of rockets flew toward them from Gaza. Many had been hiding in their shelters day and night because their disabilities prevented them from making that 30-second escape to safety. They needed food, diapers, and medicine, but local stores were closed and even if they were open, most could not leave their children alone to get these essentials.

Our volunteers brought cooked food, staples, and medicine to the neediest families. The war put many more of our shut-in Ashkelon families and employees into dire financial straits. With our centers closed, their children home, and their spouses called up to the army, many parents had to stay home to care for their disabled children and could not earn for the family.

With donor help, we gave supermarket gift card vouchers to our Ashkelon families and staff, to help them feed their families. Both evacuated and sheltering families told us that expenses were high, and the vouchers were not only a huge help but as one parent put it, “like a hug from abroad.” Another employee said, “it was as if someone from afar thinks about me, cares about me, wants to help.”

As time passed and the war continued, we realized we had to find innovative ways to provide our daily paramedical and educational services. We understood from previous conflicts that the lack of daily physical therapy has devastating effects on people with disabilities, especially young children, since the earlier the intervention, the better the trajectory. We took physical therapy equipment from our centers and brought it to the homes. With donor help, we purchased and distributed additional equipment to homes, making an “equipment lending library” for emergencies. We bought iPads with assistive and communication applications for our children and adults with disabilities to stay in touch with their teachers and classmates. We purchased laptops for the employees to work from home and lead Zoom meetings with their classes.

Each beneficiary also received a weekly home therapy visit. There, our staff discovered frightened children and adults alike, due to the threatening noises and reverberations of the sirens, Hamas rockets, and IDF bombs from nearby Gaza.

In mid-December, the Ashkelon children returned to the centers in small groups, since the safe rooms were too small to host everyone. They were sent home before naptime since if a siren occurred, they would not have been able to move all of them there within 30 seconds.

As of January, we reopened all of our centers full-time. With a recognition that we need to get through the trauma and be more prepared for other emergencies, with your help, we are now launching organization-wide staff Resilience Training led by NATAL (National Trauma Victims) professionals. With the resilience training, we hope to see our employees improve interpersonal communication, engage in better techniques for coping with stress, and better manage security vulnerabilities and crises.

Links:

• Chimes Israel during Gaza War