RUN FOR BEIT DANIELLA! JERUSALEM MARATHON 2022

What is Beit Daniella? A rehabilitative day center for youth struggling with mental health challenges including eating disorders, Beit Daniella empowers youth with the vital skills to transition back into their families, schools and communities. Situated in a natural setting with an emphasis on animal-assisted therapy, Beit Daniella seeks to strengthen the healthy self to meet and negotiate with the unhealthy self in an environment that fosters responsibility and wellness. Appreciating the central role of family, Beit Daniella empowers parents to understand and support their child during this time of need, while providing the parents themselves with much needed support and the necessary tools to help themselves in dealing with the challenge. What is the connection between Beit Daniella and running in a Marathon? There is a direct link between our vision at Beit Daniella and running in the Marathon. It can be encapsulated in one word: Empowerment. In the words of Beatie Deutsch, Israel’s Women’s Marathon Champion and #TEAMDANIELLA’s Team Leader, “Running in general and running marathons, particularly at the late stage when I started, taught me that there are incredible powers within a person that we are totally unaware of.“ Why Beit Daniella? When Daniella Pardes was released from a 3 month hospitalization due to anorexia nervosa, there were no suitable programs to help her transition back to school and to functional daily living. Five months after her release, tragically Daniella took her own life. To provide for other teens who are suffering like her, that therapeutic, rehabilitative stepping stone, Daniella’s mother Hadassa Pardes established Beit Daniella. Just a few months following the tragedy, Beit Daniella was founded in 2018, opening its doors in 2019. Emotional distress amongst Israel’s youth has risen sharply. In the course of the Corona period, there has been a 40% increase in youth seeking therapeutic services and even before Corona, there was a 45% increase in suicide attempts amongst Israeli youth. Across the country, thousands of young people are unable to attend school or to function within their daily lives for mental health reasons. In Jerusalem alone, scores of youth are desperate for Beit Daniella. What are YOU and the marathon campaign doing for Beit Daniella? On average, youth attending Beit Daniella stay between 4 to 8 months. Mental health care is extremely expensive. The cost per child per month is around 15,000 ₪, bringing the average stay at Beit Daniella in the area of 100,000 ₪ per child. As such, since Beit Daniella’s inception, we have been working tirelessly towards the goal of government funding. In 2021, we succeeded for the first time in mobilizing modest budgets - through the Education Ministry and Social Security Institute Funds. Even though parents' fees cover a very small percentage of our actual costs, parents still have to pay thousands of shekels towards their child’s care. Not all families can afford that. With your help, we would like to establish a scholarship fund to enable youth whose families cannot afford the fees to get the help that they need at Beit Daniella. They need your donation today. Donations are tax deductible in Israel, USA, Canada, England and Europe. Want to run and raise with #TEAMDANIELLA? Follow us on facebook - Beit Daniella