Therapeutic Vacation Camps – Orr Shalom

Vision

Vacations, that are supposed to be happy times, can be traumatic for children in out-of-home care with nowhere to go. The therapeutic overnight camps are critical as they provide Orr Shalom children with a safe and supportive environment where they can also grow, explore, and build self-confidence while having fun and making new friends.

Activity

Orr Shalom provides warm, loving homes and therapeutic and educational services to 1,300 children who have been removed from their homes by the social welfare services due to severe abuse and/or neglect. Orr Shalom homes close for Sukkot, Chanukah, Pesach and August to give house parents and staff a short but critical break. Where possible, Orr Shalom children visit their biological or extended families. However, many children are either orphans or they come from domestic situations that are so violent, abusive or dysfunctional that it is impossible for them to go home. To ensure that they remain in a safe, caring and educational framework and do not regress to past destructive behaviors, Orr Shalom runs a residential camp for children who have nowhere else to go.

www.orr-shalom.org.il/index.php/he/

So let's return a smile to their faces Let's give them strength As these children are all of ours Let's hug them close like a mother and father Let's give them strength.

- Ehud Manor

Chamootal Gordon-Shamir

Chamootal Gordon-Shamir serves as the Director of Orr Shalom’s Family Group Homes, and is responsible for the therapeutic overnight camps program. With over thirty years’ experience working with children in out-of-home care, Chamootal established and managed the social work field at Yeladim Besikui, and has worked closely with the JDC on strategic planning, participated in national conferences and published some professional literature. Chamootal has a B.A. in Criminology from Bar Ilan University, and a B.A. and M.A. in Social Work from Tel Aviv University.