SHEKEL - Inclusion for People with Disabilities

My name is Shosh Brayman. I have two daughters with special needs. My oldest was born in Israel. This is very personal to me. SHEKEL is an Israeli organization that works for inclusion of people with disabilities in the community - all Israelis, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. As everywhere, people with disabilities are the most vulnerable population in times of emergency and crises. This could be my children living with sirens constantly going off because of the thousands of missiles being fired into Israel. How does someone like my daughter Nomi get into a shelter in the basement? She doesn’t. How does someone like my daughter Chaya understand something that’s not understandable. At SHEKEL apartments, staff often have less than a minute to get people like Nomi into sheltered areas. They are also providing emotional support and SHEKEL's therapeutic centers have now opened a nationwide emergency call center to provide emotional support to people with disabilities and their families throughout the country. Some of the staff have lost family and friends, many have been called up to the army, all this at a time when the organization needs extra staff reinforcements. Many workers are volunteering their time to take on some of SHEKEL's new emergency needs. A friend of mine works at SHEKEL and paints a stark but inspiring picture of the work and activities now going on in order to continue to provide safe nurturing environments for SHEKEL participants. Many of the staff are concerned for family members in the army and particularly for Gavriella, a wonderful manager of a SHEKEL farm-based center for people on the autism spectrum. Gavriella is among the kidnapped. SHEKEL NEEDS YOUR HELP. If you truly care about people, all people, please help me raise money for them to continue their work for all people with disabilities in Israel. If you wish to give directly to SHEKEL: go on their website @ SHEKEL - Inclusion for People with Disabilities. I will send the money directly to SHEKEL. Thank you for your support.