Children’s Group Home
The Merav Children’s Group Home (a/k/a Bet Hayeled) was established twelve years ago to offer a warm home and educational environment to children from families suffering social and emotional distress. Many of them have come from abusive situations, have incarcerated parents, are from drug addicted households. These children are referred by the state’s social service agencies including the courts. Children as young as age six arrive at Bet Hayeled where they love in a large “family home” on Kibbutz Merav which sits upon the mountain ridge of Avinadav in the Gilboan mountains. Staff caregivers include a housemother and housefather, girls in National Service, psychologist and social worker. The home houses ten children.
The mission of the Merav Children’s Group Home is to extract these children form the cycle of distress, while creating a framework that allows them to integrate into and contribute to society. MCGH is affiliated with a recognized foundation under the auspices of the Israel Welfare Ministry. The foundation partially subsidizes the children’s education and living expenses.
The Kibbutz Merav community support and run this project. With their limited financial resources, it supplies many of the remaining funds needed to provide for the growing needs of the MCGH children. They need more help.
Our Involvement
We visited Kibbutz Merav and gave them their initial grant in 2005. The funds were used to purchase chairs, sheets a Mixmaster and DVD’s. A second grant in 2006 bought new books for the library, upgrades for the computer, DVD’s in Hebrew, board games and puzzles and therapy for one of the children. HOT also paid for new sets of sheets for 10 children. Our most recent grant was used to pay for a computer, printer and software. A second computer station was on their wish list and we are happy to report that one of our donors came through and sent in the funds to purchase the second system.
Contact Information:
Merav Children’s Group Home, Yitz Feigenbaum, Kibbutz Merav D.N., Gilboa 19148 Israel, Telephone: 972-4-653-9143, email: yitz@kibbutzmerav.co.il
