zichron menachem - Activities

Zichron Menachem’s summer Adventure Camps are run in Israel and overseas (France, Holland and the UK). ZM’s Winter Camps take place in Eilat and the Spring Adventure Camps are in the north of Israel. ZM takes as many as 120 cancer-stricken children who are at the apex of their treatments or in remission. Oncology doctors and nurses equipped with a mobile hospital and blood lab accompany the child campers. This enables ZM to allow even very ill children to attend camp. These Adventure Camps give the sick children an opportunity to “recharge” their physical and emotional batteries, making them stronger for their continued fight against cancer. When a child is in pain or is frightened of what may happen next, he can recall the great fun he had at the ZM camp and continue his struggle to win over his illness.

These camps function as “power stations” for the sick children, giving them strength which they need every day of the year. The sick child builds up and stores his health in anticipation of attending the next ZM Adventure Camp several months in the future. ZM runs 3 camps each year: in the summer, winter and spring. Marking the dates of each camp, the sick child has a goal to look forward to. During the Adventure Camp itself, the child forgets his painful past and doesn’t think about a sickly future. He focuses only on the present moment – having the greatest of time! The camp’s attractions combined with the devoted attention of camp counselors bring wonderful results for everyone. After each camp has ended, every camper is given a professionally-edited video or DVD movie as a souvenir of the camp. While resting at home or at the ZM Day Center, the children watch the movies – in which they are the stars - and they relive and extend their great moments of non-stop Adventure Camp fun.

Almost every day of the year, ZM finds a reason to celebrate! ZM makes parties for kids with cancer on Saturday nights (“Melaveh Malka”), at the start of each new month (“Rosh Chodesh”), holiday parties (Chanukah, Purim …), and just for “any old reason.” ZM firmly believes that “happiness-therapy” can do much to remove sadness and fear from the hearts of young cancer patients. Families are invited to join these celebrations. Each child’s birthday becomes a major event, and each party is custom-tailored to the child’s interests and age. ZM birthday parties include a guest performer, light refreshments and a personal present for each child.

Among ZM’s many crucial programs are Support Groups for parents of sick children. The group sessions are lead by psychologist Dr. Baruch Shulam. In addition to meeting together every 2 weeks, the parents support groups go together for 3-day weekends, daylong excursions and other relaxing and meaningful activities. These get-togethers give the parents much inner strength as they learn from each other’s experiences about how to cope and manage during their child’s struggle with cancer.

ZM volunteers are available to watch over cancer-stricken children, whenever parents need relief. Specially trained ZM volunteers stay with the hospitalized children, keeping them company from early morning until late at night, every day of the week. This service enables parents to go to work and run their households.

This assistance also eases the burden of the very devoted but overworked nursing staff in pediatric oncology wards. Another pair of helping hands and personal attention is always welcome, especially for simple matters about which a sick child is hesitant to bother the nurse.

Several times each year ZM takes the sick children and their families out for fun days and outings. They enjoy amusement parks and do challenging sports together. The aim is simple: changing the atmosphere and daily routine, relaxing and forming a connection between families who are in a similar situation.

This project shows how ZM responds to and covers the total range of a cancer patient's needs. When a child is undergoing chemotherapy treatment, his blood count becomes lowered, his immune system is weakened and his body's ability to form blot clots becomes diminished. These physiological changes put the patient's life at additional risk, above and beyond the disease of cancer itself. ZM's program has created and continues to build a reservoir of donors of various types of blood products. Thanks this program, thousands of healthy donors have been pre-screened and are standing ready at any moment to donate blood or blood products to the sick children, when needed.

The Zichron Menachem Day Center in Jerusalem is the first and only educational, recreational and rehabilitation center of its kind in Israel that has been developed and dedicated for the exclusive use of children with cancer and their families. The Center’s function as an educational, recreational and rehabilitation day center is crucial for children who are sick with cancer and undergoing cancer treatments. These children have suppressed immune systems due to chemotherapy and therefore, in order to protect their already fragile health, they must be kept away from school and social events. Instead of being isolated, bored and depressed, these sick children can attend the Day Center 6 days a week, where they continue their studies and enjoy a wide range of fun and entertaining activities. Music, computers, art, aerodynamics, sports, photography and journalism are but a few of the many extra-curricular activities offered to the sick children. The Zichron Menachem Day Center offers these same enjoyable activities to the sick child’s brothers and sisters during the afternoon and early evening hours, 5 days each week..

The Zichron Menachem Guest House in Jerusalem serves the needs of parents of sick children living outside the greater Jerusalem area who are undergoing cancer treatment in Jerusalem hospitals. The Guest House facilities are comparable to a luxury hotel and are offered to the sick child’s family without any charge, like all other ZM programs and activities. This Guest House provides the parents a quiet and relaxing place to be following tense and difficult days spent with their child at the hospital. Here, parents are able to escape from the constant buzzing and ringing sounds of hospital equipment and from the hectic atmosphere of a modern hospital. Here, parents can “recharge” their physical and emotional batteries and revitalize their strengths, something that is so crucial for parents during the course of their child’s hospitalization and struggle to overcome his or her cancer.