Organization of a fun day for people with emotional problems at Itanim Hospital

The January 2004 Essence graduates took it upon themselves to organize a project for the benefit of emotional disturbed at the chronic section of "Itanim" Hospital, located in the beautiful surroundings of the Jerusalem mountains.
These are special people that do not experience a daily routine that all of us take for granted, for instance chirping birds, fresh air, or a loving and supportive family.

Before the start of the project, we were invited by the department manager Dr. Avner Sela to a fascinating presentation concerning mental illness and its characteristics and explanations regarding the ward that he heads.
He also expressed his great appreciation for our doing this project.

First Part of the Project:

On May 31, 2004, we organized a fun day at the Ein Hemed Park, which is located a 10 minute ride from Itanim Hospital. We arranged both breakfast and lunch for everyone and set up a number of booths for the patients, including a creativity booth, haircut booth, make-up booth, pita baking booth, and more. In addition, we organized various "prize winning" sporting events and of course there was lots of music and singing which all enjoyed.

Second part:

Two weeks after the fun day our entire Essence group paid a return visit to Itanim. We were received with much love by the patients and it really moved us how they took the trouble to prepare for us refreshments, which they themselves purchased with their own money. We all shared with each other the deep emotions shared by all that day at Ein Hemed, and they stated that that day was one that they will never forget!

The department manager Dr. Sela was totally amazed. He told us that their expression of emotions towards us was amazing as people in their state very rarely if ever express any emotions. They are generally constantly apathetic.
We were quite pleased of course by his comments. It was our intention from the very beginning to do a positive deed for these people, something that will remain them for a long time.

During these difficult times when the economic recession still is not behind us, there is a well known problem regarding financing and supporting public institutions, especially those involving the weak/helpless sectors of the population. It was with this realization that prompted us to help at this institution, and without ignoring the present economic hardships, we took it upon ourselves to obtain equipment for the ward. Donations included furniture, electrical appliances, clothing, and more.

We would also like to express our thanks to all of the people who did not ignore our requests for assistance, and donated and helped us to pull off this fantastic fun day and complete this project for these members of the Israeli society.