Larger Than Life, a non-profit organization that supports Israeli children in need of medical help, has a mission to support Israeli families “from diagnosis to recovery.” Its main method of recovery would be to create joyful experiences while improving the quality of care and medical conditions for children. Many have joined its mission by comforting families affected by cancer and supporting the organization in order to grow the support network that has already been established.
Originally formed in the year 2000, the Israeli organization Larger Than Life (Gdolim Me-Hachaim) has been known to operate in hospitals all over Israel. It even works with families who wish to bring their children to North America for better treatment. One of the main locations of the patients being supported by the organization is the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, which is the number one cancer hospital in the city.
When at these hospitals, although the Israeli children are able to receive support from doctors, nurses, and parents, other children who are already in the treatment facilities can greatly affect the condition of the patient. “We encourage children to realize that they can improve the lives of other kids their age that arrived in the US,” Netta Nathaniel, the Executive Director of Larger Than Life, said. “The families that come here have no family or friends. Sometimes they don’t speak English very well. Sometimes they are teenagers, and they are all by themselves. Cancer is a very lonely disease because most of the time the person is alone during treatments, in the hospital, or recovering at home. Sometimes the immune system is so low that they can not go outside and be with the other kids.” All of these reasons support the case that while going through something like cancer a person can always make the situation better.
“Kids for Kids,” which is an idea that Nathaniel had as a way to describe the volunteering of teenagers of all ages coming to support the children in the hospitals. Scars that they may receive during operations can prevent them from wanting to go out, but in some cases, there are some that do want to meet others and hang out with people their own age. The main purpose of “Kids for Kids” would be to remind those going through cancer that there are people that care about them and not about how they look or their disease.
Each year, Larger Than Life hosts a fundraiser gala to raise money in order to provide more children with better medical help in largely known facilities that treat cancer. “In annual events we bring a family or a child to share a personal story…It is an event in which we present the organization so that people can get to know us, donate and volunteer,” Nathaniel said. Using the charitable donations, Larger Than Life opened a Kindergarden of Dreams in Beersheva and is currently growing to other locations as well, in order to safely educate and rehabilitate the kids going through cancer. In other ways, they use the donations in order to create fun experiences for the kids such as taking them to their dream trip in Orlando.
How can you volunteer? “A lot of people have heard about this organization and they contact us and they ask what they can do,” Yifat Yechezkell, Co-chair of the New Jersey branch, said. Some people offer to cook food, to visit, to invite the families into their homes for holidays or Shabbat dinners, or even just to have fun. There are many volunteering opportunities in this organization as it is a growing one. Though they seem like such small tasks, they can make a big difference in a child’s life.
