Ezer Mizion

Shoshi Charmatz, mother of six, has been battling cancer for seven years. Shoshi attends Ezer Mizion’s visual arts therapy workshop and the artwork she has created is currently on display at Ezer Mizion’s visual arts workshop exhibit. Shoshi’s called her moving work of art “The Surviving Tree and Me.”

As part of her battle with the cancer that struck her body, Shoshi underwent treatments in New York. On her way to one of the treatments, she encountered the “Surviving Tree,” a lone tree located near the site of the Twin Towers that survived the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Shine a Little Light and Win Big Prizes

Things can be bad. But they’re worse when you have to face them alone.

Take Avi, for example. He was in elementary school when his parents got the news: Cancer.

The lights went out. Their lives turned dark.

Uncertainty. Which treatment should we pursue? Is a bone marrow transplant the best option?

Concern. How would we juggle his treatment and still care for the rest of the family?

Fear. Would Avi make it?

His parents watched as the light went out — it dimmed from Avi’s eyes, it disappeared from their home. The darkness shadowed over their family, as it does for thousands of families across the world. Avi’s is far from the only one.

But whether dealing with cancer, mental health, or special needs — there’s a glow in the dark. There’s an organization that shines a little light and helps them navigate the darkness.

Ezer Mizion gets 650,000 calls a year. They answer each one. Yes, we will be there for you.

We will guide you through treatments.

We will drop off hot dinners.

We will find you a matching donor.

We will provide mental health support.

We will send volunteers to the hospital.

How do they do it? What does it take to change a family’s world for the better?

Not much — just a little bit of light chases away the darkness. Ezer Mizion is holding a historic auction — one of the largest ever — and with each ticket that you purchase, you have the ability to replace darkness with light.

The auction features dozens of brilliant prizes, and with tickets starting at just $18, you can win anything from your dream vacation to your own Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) or from home renovations to jewelry. The two grand prizes give you the chance to win $100,000 cash or your own late-model car. By participating in Ezer Mizion’s auction, you can help the organization to keep glowing.

This year, because of COVID, not only did Ezer Mizion’s income lessen, but their call volume rose astronomically. More people than ever are relying on the organization and, more than ever, Ezer Mizion is relying on you.

Families in Israel and around the world are relying on Ezer Mizion. You’re the one with the power to turn on the light.

Purchase your tickets at emraffle.org today and be their glow in the dark.

Visual Arts Joins the Battle against Cancer

Ran Sahar, CEO of Maccabi visiting Ezer Mizion’s 2020 Art Exhibit

Ran Sahar is CEO of Maccabi, israel’s leading HMO, certainly a very busy man. But Mr. Sahar deemed it important to take time off from his crowded schedule to visit Ezer Mizion’s 2020 Art Exhibit. The annual exhibit features work produced by the participants of the Art Workshop, one of the many programs of Ezer Mizion’s Cancer Support Division.

Under the able leadership of Ms. Lidia Rozanski, Multidisciplinary Visual Artist, Certified Art Therapist, participants are guided to explore their inner feelings and express them through visual art. The process that the workshop participants undergo, alone and together through this project, is unique and powerful with a significant impact on their battle with cancer.

This project, an expanse for emotional processing, offers the artists an opportunity to open up and cope and to break the stifling secrecy, while engaging in the process of creating an artistic object and exhibiting it. It enables them to set out on an internal journey that is emotionally, creatively, and practically challenging. This journey demands of the participants to leave their comfort zone for the sake of the change that is generated by the new perspective they acquire in the course of the process.

When a person is sick, he can experience depression, anxiety, disappointment, frustration, and fear. He can lose his life routine and his ability to create. This workshop provides participants with a place of belonging and identification, a place where they can find change through which they can restore respect – both for themselves and for those around them. Via the process of artistic creation, we try to restore to participants their strength and their ability to do, to create, and to accomplish in the present and to plan for the future.

The artistic works created by participants in the workshop and displayed at this exhibit reveal a little bit of this process and open a window to the world of people fighting cancer. Ofir Amitay uses the following text to illustrate her creation.

Cancer patient depicts family support as she herself experiences helplessness

Together Hand in Hand

How supportive can hands be?

To a child whose life has only just begun..

How supportive and strengthening can a family be?

Apparently, more than I could ever have thought.

Like the foundations of a building, strong and steadfast in the face of a storm,

Like the net for the fallen trapeze artist, flexible, soft, holding on, not letting go.

Hands so powerful, endlessly strengthening.

Where would I have been without you, my dear family?

Probably not among the living.. and thus, this exhibition

Is yours as it is mine.

Together, hand in hand, forever.

To view exhibit: https://ezermizion.org/pdfs/Art_Exhibit_2020.pdf

https://www.ezermizion.org/donate-to-ezer-mizion.html#tabs-4

A Linked to Life Volunteer

“Prepare a meal for a senior? No problem. Give me the address and I’ll deliver it, too.” Avigayil is one of Linked to Life’s indefatigable volunteers, who can always be counted on for a mission. Meal in hand, she entered the home of the senior. “Shall I put it in the fridge for you for later or would you like me to heat it up for you now?” He stood there unable to respond other than an “Ummm…”

Because of You!

https://www.ezermizion.org/bone-marrow-and-jewish-genetics-2.html

Bringing the ‘Me’ Back to Life for the Elderly

The Ezer Mizion ‘One Wish’ program is in full swing. Countless holocaust survivors residing in nursing home facilities have already benefited. The program attempts to meet the need of these precious elderly whose daily life often places them in a one-size-fits-all situation in which their individual past life, their specific interests and opinions have no place to flourish. Too often, the senior’s sense of self begins to wither and die. They have a name. They have a lifetime of past experiences. But the ‘me’ slowly fades away and they become not much more than a room number.

Corona Caregiving for the Elderly by Ezer Mizion

Corona Innovation: Ezer Mizion will be providing nursing caregivers for elderly quarantined and corona patients. Caregivers either immunized or recovered from corona will be trained by Ezer Mizion to be able to provide a treatment response for elderly quarantined patients whose needs are unmet during this time due to safety restrictions.

Manufacturing Smiles

The phone rings at Ezer Mizion. Calls come all day, usually from people undergoing horrific crises. This time there was a smile in the voice of the caller. A young boy had completed his chemo treatments and his Bar Mitzvah was coming right up. There was no time to prepare. Can Ezer Mizion help? ’We’d love to,’ the rep answered, happy to be part of a joyful event. As soon as the call ended, the phone was again pressed into service. Volunteers were needed asap. A sweet table including a personalized Bar mitzvah cake. And petit fours. And creative pastries galore. And drivers to deliver. And volunteers to set up tastefully with elegant tableware. And a popular singer. And a keyboard player. And a gift of a fancy watch presented by the director of Ezer Mizion’s Community Cancer Support Division And…and. Yitzchok, our hero, danced and danced…round and round, holding the hands of everyone who loved him while the guests cried tears of joy, of gratitude, of hope, of prayer.

An Ezer Mizion director shares her experience:

Rx for Cancer: Fun! Fun! Fun!

The two go hand in hand. Chemotherapy and emotional therapy. A patient’s spirits become a powerful partner in the battle against illness. While Ezer Mizion is not able to provide chemotherapy, we search every nook and cranny for ways to bring joy to the patient and his family. The creativity of the professional staff supported by thousands of dedicated volunteers are in the business of manufacturing smiles on the faces of those who haven’t smiled in days.

Be Their Glow in the Dark

Visual Arts Join in Battling Cancer, part two