“I am proud and honored to introduce my chosen charity Hagshama and support its very noble and extremely important work for young children with special needs and their families. Thank you for accepting my personal contribution and jointly celebrating our 50^th year with the rehabilitative kindergarten Ha’Gan Ha’Shikumi throughout 2020.

Avishai Cohen (January 2020)

About the Charity

The Dvora Agmon Ha’Gan Ha’Shikumi in Jerusalem, Israel, was founded in 1970  by Professor Naomi Amir. Ha’ Gan Ha’Shikumi is a cluster of kindergartens which is run by the Ministry of Education in cooperation with the Education Department of the Jerusalem Municipality and with the support of the non-profit organization Hagshama.

There are 10 kindergarten classes with 85 special needs children (aged three to seven) from Jerusalem and the surrounding region coming from diverse backgrounds: Jews, Arabs, secular and religious. The children have cerebral palsy and other complex motor and language impairments which result in learning disabilities as well as difficulties in speech and language that require therapeutic intervention.

Each child is an individual with his or her limitations and difficulties as well as strengths, abilities and talents. The professional staff, along with the family, builds an individualized program for each and every child; the purpose of this program is to enable each child to reach his or her potential and to improve motor, cognitive, language and emotional functions. In this way we can contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the children and their families and to their future integration within society.

The complex needs of the children require resources far beyond those provided by the Ministry of Education and the Jerusalem Municipality. These include additional paramedical treatment, purchase of adaptive equipment, special activities and responsiveness to the unique needs of each child.

The children’s progress is directly related to the resources available to the staff.

During the school year the charity Hagshama provides about 20,000 hours for psychologists, paramedical and educational staff, purchases special costly equipment, assists in funding special activities for the children and their families such as trips, plays and the “Spring Festival”, while also providing direct assistance to the families.

All the members and staff of Hagshama are volunteers who do not receive any payment whatsoever, even for their own expenses. The activities of Hagshama are funded completely by donations.
We would be extremely happy if you would consider supporting Hagshama and Ha’Gan Ha’Shikumi.

Many thanks in advance!

“The Rehabilitative Kindergarten, Ha’Gan Ha’Shikumi, also celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2020. We are proud to be associated with Avishai Cohen’s music and his 50:50:50 project with which we share common values of inclusion, solidarity and community contribution.”

Rafi Felsen (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hagshama)

English Webpage: http://www.ganshikumi.co.il/en
Hebrew Webpage: http://www.ganshikumi.co.il
Donate: https://bit.ly/3aYFQQw