August 5, 2004

A Priceless Gift:
Ten Yachad Members Have the Summer of their Lives Thanks to Successful OU Campaign in Canada

Thanks to a successful Orthodox Union campaign in Canada, ten children and young adults with developmental disabilities from that country are enjoying a fulfilling summer in Jewish camp programs sponsored by Yachad. The funds raised in the recent campaign provided scholarship assistance to Canadian families to send their children on these programs.

Yachad, the flagship program of the OU’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities (NJCD), provides unique social, educational and recreational programs for individuals with learning, developmental and physical disabilities.

According to the OU Department of Development, more than 2,500 Canadian families joined together and pledged to lend financial support to Yachad summer programs and ensure that no Canadian child with special needs is left out.

These programs offer participants the opportunity to attend Jewish camps, such as Moshava, Nesher, Mesorah and Morasha, while providing them with unique care and attention to their particular needs and involving them as much as possible in mainstream activities. Yachad also runs its own program in Israel, Yad B’Yad (Hand in Hand), in which mainstream teenagers share beautiful experiences with their Yachad peers. This summer, Yachad also offered a trip to Israel with “birthright Israel.” In all, there are nearly 300 participants in the Yachad summer programs.

“The Yachad summer programs have an enormous impact on making camp a sweeter, warmer place for all the campers, not just the Yachad members,” declared NJCD National Chairman Steven Spira. “Yachad members look forward to this experience the entire year. It is an opportunity for them to go away, to be on their own, and to be independent from their parents. For the parents, it gives them a respite. All in all, it’s a life altering experience for the campers, the Yachad members and their parents.”

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The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 275,000 products manufactured in 68 countries around the globe.

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