When a child is born or diagnosed with a serious illness, the entire family feels the pain. Chai Lifeline provides crucial emotional, social and financial help that enables the family to cope with the diagnosis, treatment and repercussions of life-threatening or lifelong pediatric illness.
Chai Lifeline‘s guiding philosophy is that every child needs and deserves a happy and normal childhood. All of its programs are designed to restore a sense of normalcy and well being not only to the stricken child, but also to every member of the family.
Among the services offered are meals and visits when children are hospitalized or homebound; tutoring and educational support; counseling; restorative retreats; social and recreational programs; sibling activities; art and art therapy; crisis intervention services; family days and holiday parties. All services are free of charge.
Their flagship programs are Camp Simcha and Camp Simcha Special, two pioneering overnight camps designed to meet the medical and social needs of children and teens with life-threatening illnesses or serious chronic or genetic medical conditions. Every year, 400 campers discover medically supervised environment of love, fun and magic where hospitals, medicine and treatments are traded for traditional camp activities, special events like helicopter and motorcycle rides, friendships and unconditional love.
At Camp Simcha and Camp Simcha Special, campers are free to forget about illness while in the company of the only people who can truly understand them: other sick children. Bald heads, wheelchairs, and respirators are no longer unique. Personalities submerged by illness grow brighter in the light of the sunshine that permeates Camp Simcha. Within this atmosphere of life, children discover the determination to continue to fight their illness throughout the year.
