Kinneret All-Women Swim for Sadnat-Shiluv

Let’s help Vivienne Glaser fulfill her million shekel dream. Vivienne wants to build two hostels in Gush Etzion for special-needs children (with learning disabilities or Down’s Syndrome).
Vivienne is so serious about making this happen, she’s already planned her first major fundraising event – An All Women’s Swim in the Kinneret on Wednesday, June 16, IY”H, to benefit Sadnat Shiluv in Rosh Tzurim .
Everyone reading this article can make this swim a success by sponsoring: a swimmer, transportation, or anything from sun-tan lotion, liquid high-energy food, or towels to long T-Shirts for the women swimmers. Together, we can make Vivienne’s dream for a better life for at least a dozen special-needs children come true. Contact Swim4sadna@gmail.com.
What's it for?
Sadnat Shiluv encourages maximum integration of special people into the community. It works with children from kindergarten and elementary school until young adulthood. Currently, its only hostel houses six young adults and offers them a place to live, work, study and lead an independent life while being an active part of the Rosh Tzurim community. Vivienne has made it her personal goal to try to build another two hostels.
Vivienne told Voices that there’s usually an Annual Swim across the Kinneret in the middle of September, “but it’s a mixed swim and it’s always on Shabbat.”
Women who have always wanted to participate in a Kinneret Swim, but were unable to do so because of the mixed swimming or Sabbath scheduling, can now join in. Of course, the event is not only for religious women. Vivienne said, “Today 30% of sports in Israel are women only. It's become very trendy.”
Vivienne’s weekday swim will have two courses – Maagan to Tzemach, 1.5 kilometers (60 lengths in a 25 meter pool); and HaOn to Tzemach, 3.5 kilometers (you do the math).
Sadnat Shiluv Hostel
Vivienne’s dream took shape when, her son Elchie, 19, entered the Sadnat Shiluv hostel in Rosh Tzurim after having been educated in its school. Five other young people, aged 17 to 23, live there too. Vivienne commented, “It proved fantastic for Elchie. It's five minutes from home. I haven't sent him away. I can pick him up for a simcha, the dentist, and he can pop home to be with his friends too.”
Vivienne wants to give the same happiness to other youngsters. There are currently seven young adults, mostly from Gush Etzion, on a waiting list to enter a hostel.
The Sadnat-Shiluv under the direction of visionary Noa Mandelbaum and educator Tamar Hechsher has created the most unique institution, Vivienne said. “They need to be empowered. There's nothing like the Gush for an area where chesed, ahavat chinam (uncompromising love) and everything else good can be showcased.”
In the elementary school 400 kids learn with about five special kids in every mainstream class of 20. The special kids can have any combination of disabilities, she noted. “It’s an interesting combination per class. And the whole idea is that they become part of society.”
More about the school, IY”H. Meanwhile, register at http://www.shvoong.co.il/ or email Swim4sadna@gmail.com.