Our startup has developed a unique system that enables interactive stories to be composed by volunteer children remotely – on the Internet, specially adapted for children with visual impairments, the project is in professional collaboration with the Elia Shala Association, Gardens for Children with Visual Impairment and Blindness.
The site with the stories could be used beyond being a game. The parents and kindergarteners of the young children and toddlers with visual impairment will be able to really use the stories as a tool for practicing choices and even learning concepts and more.
In addition to the fact that the platform allows volunteer children to participate in volunteer parties remotely from home, volunteering itself is unusual because it allows for an expression different from handicrafts and creation, thus allowing participation even for children who are less connected to art.
We hope that the Zoom meetings will help grow our communities. And the association's idea will be spread with the help of simplicity in participation all over the world.
The system allows teachers and instructors in the community to integrate volunteering into language lesson plans and even learning a foreign language by way of experience, it is even possible to operate the system over the phone as soon as you receive a training video, name and password, for the instructor.
The volunteer children will go through a workshop of practicing empathy in various games where they can experience partial blindness as well as experience in Braille. They will learn to appreciate the high ability of toddlers with blindness. and see them as equals and not in a condescending way
The stories that the children composed will be tested and recorded, and some of them will be adapted with drawings that are adapted to partial blindness, also the stories will be adapted on the website and in the application when one click projects, and a double click allows a choice, as well as the possibility of control from the keyboard, the website is under development but there is already a temporary website that children use and you can experiment at him . The accessibility is not only in the use of the stories themselves but also in the content which is adapted to the experience of other senses besides sight
Right now we are focusing on children with visual impairments, but we believe that in the future the system and the stories will also be adapted to other disabilities, and we can even prepare stories for the challenges that the parents and kindergarten teachers will ask for help, such as a visit to the doctor (we are already working on it).
We hope that beyond the immediate help to the populations to whom the stories will be adapted, and the completion of the initial basic development, we will actually be able to open a subsidiary company and develop as a commercial start-up whose revenues will be dedicated to spreading the association around the world and encouraging many children to volunteer
The project includes the creation of giant Puppets that are over three meters tall. Made of extremely durable materials and the ability to change appearance according to the event being celebrated, the doll folds into a suitcase for convenient storage purposes
The Puppets, for which the cost of the materials to make them is not cheap, will be fully or partially subsidized according to the capacity of the receiving institution, hospitals, associations that create events, and especially to educational institutions for special education
Institutions celebrate the birthday of the children of the month in a celebration, the are easy to dress for a staff member and can even dance. The Puppets that are used in celebrations make them live and more eye-catching. Institutions celebrate the birthday of the children of the month in a celebration, the Puppets are easy to dress up a staff member and can even dance. The Puppets that are used in celebrations, make them live and more attractive to the eye
The young volunteers will prepare many accessories for the Puppets, which will be attached to the Puppets with a Velcro, these accessories will allow the Puppets to change its appearance according to the event being celebrated, whether it is holidays or the month of the birthday.
Employees of commercial companies who volunteer and the higher classes will help prepare the Puppets themselves, under the guidance of the association
The creation of the accessories for many events allows the young volunteers to volunteer more than once for the same project and often even to adopt an institution and maybe even sometimes to participate in the celebrations
thereby strengthening the connection and the practice of empathy between the school and the institution for special education and creating a community that practices empathy and volunteers
A file explaining what needs to be done
We will design games and ciphers to help with learning Braille and basic concepts such as shapes and concepts that will be requested by the kindergarteners and parents at the school and kindergartens for children and toddlers with visual impairment and blindness. The preparation itself is very simple, we will use colored ropes/pipe cleaners, pages, laminated envelopes, slot tape and glue. Simple materials available everywhere and simple preparation instructions
We will prepare the games for toddlers, since especially toddlers with visual impairments lack adapted games, especially learning games.
Children with blindness and severe visual impairments learn Braille at a younger age than sighted children learn to read and write
The games will be distributed in the special kindergartens and will also be given to the children to practice at home
The volunteer children
They will go through a workshop of practicing empathy in various games where they can experience partial blindness as well as experience in Braille.
They will learn to appreciate the high ability of toddlers with blindness.
and see them as equal and not below them
Older children and communities volunteer and prepare empowering costumes for Purim that turn a wheelchair into an advantage.
We are the largest project in the world in this field, the project has existed since 2019. The association was actually born from the volunteers of the project. We have made many hundreds of costumes so far
Dozens of schools, hundreds of classes and kindergartens and thousands of children have participated over the years that the project has existed. In addition, children from home and even in family settings, the project even operated during the Corona and volunteers sent their works from afar.
Many companies recruit their employees to help and create volunteer workshops, and also volunteers and designers all over the country
Every costume requester can choose to dress up without limitation of the idea, he will dream and we will already find a way to make it come true.
We have the experience to instruct from a distance and adapt what needs to be prepared to the age of the volunteers and the nature of the volunteering style.
From making simple accessories suitable for toddlers to creating a particularly challenging costume (experienced schools have been volunteering with us for years, asking for interesting and difficult challenges and succeeding in them!)
We have several ways to reach our costumers, if you want to join the project as a costumer and your child uses a walking accessory (wheelchair / walker, etc…) send us an email about it and we will put you on the list of recipients of the costume request form (we only prepare a costume for an accessory, not an outfit)
, there are 2 types of registrants, direct registration throughout the country through the filling out of an application form by the guardian. who do not have access to the Internet and WhatsApp.
The second way is to adopt an entire institution/school, where sometimes there is an institutional costume on a common theme
In the project, the children prepare complete costumes or accessories that adult volunteers from commercial companies participate in volunteer workshops for Purim and help transform into well-designed and impressive costumes.
Most of the materials are recycled such as cartons and the rest are very accessible and cheap.
At the same time, although like the large costumes and the reduced cost, the products are at the highest level, as if we created a single costume
The project starts in October/November and lasts until a week before Purim.
From Eilat to the north of the Golan Heights, we will be happy to help with training in the world as well – this very day simply through WhatsApp
It is recommended to follow us on social media and subscribe to the newsletter since we publish the forms to join the project there and it is recommended to join as early as possible to receive a suitable challenge
There are other projects that we have already implemented and more are planned and we can also create a unique project with you that will be adapted to you.
We are open to new ideas and collaborations
Some examples of additional projects
Flowers and gifts for the lonely elderly
In the project, the children make paper flowers to give to the elderly who live in Gam, for the holidays, to give the feeling that they are part of the community and not forgotten.
In a project carried out in collaboration with the "Hoel Sara" association, children prepared small gifts for people with special needs who are integrated into the residences in the community alone
The children prepare kits in which all the folds of an origami creation are in the box, for example if folding requires 15 steps, then the box will have 15 pages in the different folding steps for illustration and ease of folding, the kits are divided into mental health departments, orphanages, etc.