American Friends of Neve Hanna Inc

Neve Hanna was among the first children’s homes in Israel to offer animal-assisted therapy. It is a well-established program that Neve Hanna has offered almost 20 years. Today, about a quarter of all therapy programs Neve Hanna offers take place in the therapeutic Petting Zoo.

The children referred to the animal-assisted program are between 6 and 15 years old. Due to their severely traumatic past in early childhood often combined with special needs due to their migration background, they are in need of a non-verbal therapy form. Animal-assisted therapy allows them to learn to “talk” about their traumatic experiences and learn or re-learn vital social skills in order to ensure their healthy development (e.g. relationships based on trust, care, empathy and love).

A variety of animals inhabit it, including hamsters, gerbils, goats, rabbits, mules, snakes, iguanas, turtles, fish, parrots, geese, hens, peacocks, meerkats and many more.

The in-house bakery is an integral part of daily life of the children’s home. Founded as an educational project with self-supportive aspects, it offers the children the chance to work at the bakery; from preparing dough to the baking process. They also learn professional aspects of running a business.

A unique program designed for children and parents to improve their relationship, with less stress, interaction and communication by learning to bake bread together. Children and their parents learn the art of baking bread and pastries. They are introduced to ingredients, nutrition matters and healthy diet.

This group program helps teens who are in need of intensive and frequent support to facilitate a framework to deal with questions concerning development. Within this framework we cover subjects such as self-image, friendships and partnerships, drugs and addictions, sexuality, social media and privacy. Our program’s goal is to provide the teens with the necessary tools and skills to enable them to live a healthy adult life once they leave Neve Hanna.

Streetlight operates by the motto: “The best thing in the world is to do good deeds for others.

Teens can help make a difference to others by giving back to the community. The children plan, fundraise, purchase and pack parcels with food supplies for disadvantaged families in the community. The program teaches our children the value of young leadership, social activism, community outreach, volunteerism, tolerance, mutual respect, friendship, teamwork and giving and sharing.

The children can join Streetlight, at the age of 12 or 13, after their B’nai Mitzvah. They take care of all the logistics, the fundraising, planning, purchasing and packing of the parcels with basic food supplies for families in need in their area as well as the distribution. They commit their free time volunteering two evenings a week. One evening is educational learning and discussing social activism, tolerance, mutual respect, giving and sharing, friendship and how they can grow into young leadership roles.

Founded as an educational self-support project. There is a professional librarian to supervise, educate and offer on the job vocational training for our teens. The Library fosters a love of reading and study, discovery of subjects and authors, provides a new vocational training, instills interpersonal skills and inspires the pursuit of higher education.

Our campaign goal is to raise $80,000 needed to expand the library space already built, fill the shelves with additional books that are timely, important and inspiring, and to professionally staff the library.

A book that inspires a Neve Hanna child to become the next Israeli astronaut or physician, novelist or painter, teacher or social worker, could be one that you buy and donate.

The Path of the Sea program works with 30 teenage boys and girls in need of intensive support in this phase of their teen development. Professionally guided group activities on the beach and in the sea are offered through topics such as perseverance, mastering challenges and personal willpower. The youngsters discover new worlds by swimming and rowing, surfing and sailing.

Under the guidance of a skilled marine training team, and our social workers, Isheh and Michal, Ziv Neurim’s approach in its Path of the Sea program is based on strengthening teen self-image, building up their ability to cope with stressful situations, creating positive experiences and encouraging them to persevere and cope with obstacles.

The Core Elements:
Perseverance, Personal coping, Discipline, Personal responsibility, Physical fitness, Self reliance, Team work, Facing fears and challenges, Overcoming obstacles and experience.

Horseback Riding Therapy lessons develop children’s skills in the physical, emotional, social and cognitive domains. In the physical domain, children learn to maintain equilibrium, to sit up straight and keep a correct posture. They strengthen their back, legs and arms muscles. In the emotional domain, children develop a close personal friendship with both the instructor and the horse and learn to give confidence in the other out of trust and mutual respect. In the social domain, children develop verbal and non-verbal communication tools, overcome the language barrier and experience intimacy and warmth. In the cognitive domain, the child learns to understand complex instructions, retain a set of directions and follow them correctly. Horses have the ability to mirror the feelings of the child.