PROJECT PROPOSAL

 

ILAN SUMMER CAMPS PROJECT

 

ILAN – Background:

 

ILAN, the Israel Foundation for Handicapped Children, cares for some 15,000 physically disadvantaged adults and children suffering from diseases that affect the muscles and nerves such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular diseases.

ILAN has 46 branches all over Israel that are in constant contact with the disabled and that represent a channel of information for tracing and assisting this population and its special needs.  When it was founded in 1952, ILAN located child victims of the polio epidemic and organized mass vaccinations for children in Israel. In time, the State has accepted responsibility for providing this service and has freed ILAN to concentrate its efforts and resources on providing assistance and relief for the severely disabled individual and his family, promoting facilities for the physically disadvantaged and their special needs, and developing services for the disabled within the context of the community.  These services include a network of kindergartens, special schools and vocational training centers, sheltered workshops, rehabilitation and occupation units, residential homes for physically disadvantaged adults, as well as social centers and sports facilities.

Contributions constitute the main source of finance for the ILAN projects.  

 

ILAN Summer Camps are held in rural surroundings all over Israel, in kibbutzim and moshavim that  volunteer to host hundreds of disabled children for a whole week sleep-in camp.  The children are able to enjoy accommodation and other facilities (such as a swimming pool) that are accessible to the disabled and they enjoy a wide variety of activities such as sports, shows, workshops and other social activities.  The summer camps:

 

    Provide children with an experience they could not otherwise enjoy and that they look forward to all year.

 

    Enable children to take part in activities such as rafting, going on trips, picnicking and swimming with their able-bodied companions. 

 

   Give families a short break that helps them regain the strength needed for taking care of the children throughout the year.

 

   Give the disabled children the opportunity to experience a different environment for a short time each year. 

 

Thanks to the volunteering tradition of kibbutzim that are committed to the ILAN Summer Camp Project, several hundred children are able to take part each year in ILAN summer camps. In 2002, 28 kibbutzim and moshavim throughout Israel hosted more than 500 children; two main camps for 60 – 80 children each and 26 smaller camps for 10 – 20 each.  During the week the children spend at camp, they are accommodated in the kibbutzim and moshavim while facilities such as the swimming pool, sports fields and club rooms are available to the summer camp for its activities.

 

Trips and picnics are arranged to nearby sites and attractions which mean that suitable transportation must be provided for physically disadvantaged children who are unable to use conventional means of transport.  When the activity is away from the kibbutz and involves the young kibbutz volunteers, transport must be made available for them as well.

 

Professional counselors and adult companions are present at each summer camp.  In recent years, we have been forced to incur additional expenses for protection and security for each summer camp.

 

BUDGET

 

Large summer camp for 60 – 80 children:                          US$    10,000

Camp for 10 – 12 children :                                             US$     2,700

 

* These costs cover food, entrance fees to attractions, salaries for some staff, transportation costs in vehicles that have been adapted to take wheelchairs and children with physical disadvantages, as well as security costs (this latter cost has increased considerably in recent years as a result of the security situation in Israel).

 

* Many items that would otherwise appear as expenses are absorbed by the kibbutzim who volunteer to host the children and the young people of the kibbutz who assist and care for their guests – helping them eat, if necessary and providing assistance in many other ways – helping them in and out of the swimming pool, helping them shower, and so on.