Simcha Layeled

In 2004, we founded Simcha Layeled with one simple goal: To help children and teenagers who have significant physical challenges or who are dealing with chronic diseases, but who also have normal cognitive abilities, to live full lives. We have successfully achieved this goal for more than 20 years. Social workers, educators, psychologists, and more than 700 young volunteers ("our mentors") work in a variety of programs to help the young people we support: in hospitals, in schools, and in the community. They work to ensure that our children grow up and develop like any other children their age. That they learn according to their abilities, and not according to their physical disability. That they get the same chance to integrate into employment and society. That workplaces value them, and that they are full-fledged citizens with all the rights and duties that come with it. And that they will never be (or feel) a burden on their families and Israeli society. what are we doing? • We support and promote over 550 children by a professional team that monitors them personally. Although most of our dedicated volunteers are only 17-19(!) years old, they take on the role of "big brother" or "big sister" of the children and become an integral part of the family. • We help encourage children in hospitals. We reach more than 20,000 children in children's wards all over Israel every year, through leisure activities adapted to their age and the challenges they face during hospitalization and rehabilitation. • We support practically and socially the parents' and siblings' dealings with their child's medical condition and its consequences for their lives. • After they turn 16, we help our young people with a unique program for them that encourages them to integrate practically into society. We encourage them to succeed in school despite facing their health conditions, and later to volunteer for the army or national service, choose a profession for life, and be a contributing part of society. * We promote a more equal and just society by exposing our world to youth and adults in schools and companies.