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CHESED AROUND THE WORLD Ideas worth imitating
US A
Where every child is a world
RK
O
CHAI LIFELINE
NE W Y
A paediatric oncologist
once lamented the fact
that his Jewish patients could not attend
‘cancer camp’ during
the summer because of
the lack of kosher food
options. So, together
Rabbi Scholar
with a group of dedicated lay leaders, they
created a one-week summer camp, which they named Camp
Simcha. Its mission was to give children with cancer a summer camp experience that would give them strength, courage, and the will to continue to fight the devastating social,
physical, and emotional effects of their illnesses. In 1987,
Camp Simcha began with eight campers, at a camp rented
for one week at the end of the summer.
Camp Simcha was an instant success, but its founders realised that campers and their families needed support all
year long. Volunteers began visiting patients and their parents in hospitals. They catalogued the many needs of families that arose when their children were ill: hot meals to
stimulate appetites and give sustenance to patients and
caregivers; transportation assistance when children needed
treatment or had doctors’ appointments; visitors for children and their siblings at home; emotional and social support for parents; tutoring and other educational support;
and more. From such humble beginnings arose a multifaceted organisation dedicated to providing a wide range of support and services to provide for these needs, in an effort to
help seriously ill children and their families deal with the
many unique challenges they face each day
Rabbi Simcha Scholar, executive VP of Chai Lifeline,
joined in the autumn of 1987, and has been at the helm
ever since. “In 1987, when many people didn’t utter the
word ‘cancer’, much less admit that a child was ill, Chai Lifeline’s emphasis on confidentiality and respecting the wishes
of the individual meant that families could accept help
without fear.” Help of all shapes and sizes was so desperately needed. Even something as simple as having volunteers
stay with sick children in order to allow their parents to go
home for much needed rest and respite, to grab a shower, to
change clothes, to pay the bills, to spend time with their
other children and each other, without having to leave a
64 JEWISH LIFE QISSUE 87
sick child alone in the hospital, became part of the Chai
Lifeline manifesto. And what a difference it makes to the
lives of those children, those parents, and those families.
When asked how many people have benefited from the
worthy projects, which, 28 years later, have grown to serve
more than 4 300 children and their families around the
world, Rabbi Scholar answers, “We believe it’s not about the
numbers – how many people we’ve helped – but about how
well we help each person. ]