Clownbulance - To bring back their smiles

I’m Smadar, a medical clown with the Dream Doctors Project. My colleagues and I are part of patient care teams in 33 hospitals throughout Israel. Every single day, we visit children dealing with serious illnesses, providing emotional support and hope. In 2015, I made my own dream come true by establishing the Clownbulance project. The Clownbulance is a unique vehicle that we use to take out children we work with as part of their recovery journey, along with their families. We bring them out for a very special Wish Day when we do all we can to make their dreams come true. This is a day that reminds the child and their family of their lives beyond the hospital walls and gives them the strength to continue on their arduous journey through difficult treatments. Since we launched this project, we’ve made hundreds of wishes come true for children we’ve met in the hospital. Since war broke out in Israel on October 7th, we’ve relied on our extensive experience with emergency situations in Israel and around the world to work non-stop with children of the Gaza border area who have experienced unspeakable trauma. These are children who have been evacuated from their homes; some are injured, some have lost family members and friends, and some were taken hostage. We meet them in hospitals and other facilities we have been visiting since the very first day. We’ve forged deep, personal bonds with these children—all thanks to our distinctive red noses! These children need to be given back control over their own lives; they need to be reminded that they still have the right to dream and given the hope that their dreams can come true. We’ve realized, these past few weeks, that the Clownbulance can offer these children a temporary escape, letting them take a deep breath, and to be empowered to make their dreams come true. Here’s how we make kids’ dreams come true: • Based on our familiarity with the communities of southern Israel, we work with community leaders from kibbutzim and other communities to carefully select children and families who could benefit most from the Wish Day experience. • We meet with the child and listen to their dreams and how they imagine their perfect Wish Day. • Our project team gets to work arranging practical details. • We meet with the child and their family and take them out for their Wish Day experience. The list of wishes is getting longer every single day. The cost to make a single child’s wish come true is $1000 US. We’re reaching out to ask you to join us in this project so that, together, we can reach as many children as possible, sharing hope and smiles for a better future. Our goal this year is to make dreams come true for 100 children and families. To make that happen, we need to raise $100,000 US. The Clownbulance operates as part of the Dream Doctors Project – a registered charitable organization in Israel (charitable registration number 58-0515120). Donations to Dream Doctors are recognized according to the Income Tax Ordinance, Section 46(a). A receipt will be issued for all donations. You can also make a tax-deductible donation from the United States, Canada, and the U.K. For any questions or inquiries, please get in touch: smadarharpak@gmail.con , +972-544995550