Gift room for hospitalized children opened

The beautiful gift room at Hillel Yaffe was opened this week, in the presence of the medical center’s administration, management of Friends of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, staff of the Pediatrics Department, Educational Center staff and Meirav Hollander, the driving force behind the project, Beit Hamatanot Shel Yair, and the person whose donation to make the room possible. This room will be a fun place for the hospitalized children, a place where we can make them happy and help them forget their pain. The Educational Center staff, headed by Ms. Ofra Avergil, decided to give each child hospitalized in the department an age- appropriate gift of their choice.

Moshe Morag, Chairman of Friends of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, said. “On Good Deeds Day, we decided to launch the Gift Mountain project, in order to give every hospitalized child a gift. All members of our organization were on board and collected many gifts. While collecting the gifts, we heard about Ms. Hollander's work on behalf of hospitalized children and immediately connected, working together until we were able to establish this colorful room, filled with surprises and gifts for children.”

From right to left: Ms. Meirav Hollander, Hillel Yaffe's Administrative Director, Dr. Amnon Ben Moshe, Chairman of the Friends of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Mr. Moshe Morag, and Director of the Medical Center, Dr. Mickey Dudkiewicz

Beit Hamatanot Shel Yair was borne of a tragedy experienced by the Hollander family. At the age of 15 months, Meirav’s son, Yair, fell into the family pool and was underwater for about ten minutes. Yair survived against all odds, and today, after several years, remains in a vegetative state. After the incident, Hollander decided to assume the work of regularly filling the gift room of the hospital where her son was hospitalized. A text message she sent mobilized thousands of people, who donated a huge number of gifts and, at the end of the day, led to the establishment of the Beit Hamatanot Shel Yair project - a house filled with gifts and new games, that are regularly sent to hospitalized children around the country.