Every summer, ILAN organizes week-long sleep-in camps for physically disabled young people between the ages of 7 and 21. Kibbutzim and rural communities throughout Israel volunteer to host the children, and during camp week, the young people take part in a wide variety of outdoor activities, such as sports, swimming, and horseback riding, all adapted to their abilities. Campers also participate in shows and workshops, and go on day-trips.
For many of these children, especially if they are enrolled in a regular public school, this is the only break they get during the annual two-month-long summer vacation, which they usually have to spend at home. (Children enrolled in special education schools generally get a two-week summer break.) Camp gives these children the opportunity to meet their peers and to engage in social encounters with young people from all over Israel. A whole week of managing outside the family unit has the effect of significantly boosting a young person’s self-confidence, and parents, too, appreciate getting a short break from the demands of daily care.
ILAN also sponsors summer day camp programs at its sports center in Kiryat Haim and for Arab children in the towns of Um Al Fahm and Arara.
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