Israel has become accustomed to living from crisis to crisis. For more than two years, public attention has been consumed by war, displaced communities, bereaved families, and the immense task of rebuilding a fractured society.
The response of Israeli civil society has been remarkable. Volunteers, foundations, and concerned citizens have stepped forward to fill gaps, support vulnerable populations, and respond to urgent and evolving challenges. Yet alongside this extraordinary mobilization, another challenge has emerged.
Across Israel’s nonprofit sector, organizations addressing long-standing social, medical, educational, and rehabilitation needs are grappling with a new reality. Their missions have not changed. Their beneficiaries have not disappeared. Their financial gaps are growing. But public attention and philanthropic resources have understandably shifted toward the most visible and immediate consequences of war.
What happens to critical needs that were never at the center of public conversation and have now been pushed even further to the margins?
ALYN Hospital, Israel’s only pediatric and adolescent rehabilitation center, is one example. Every day, children with traumatic injuries and complex medical conditions carry on with their rehabilitation journeys. Some are recovering from severe burns, brain or spinal cord injuries, and serious accidents. Others are living with neurological disorders, developmental challenges, and chronic medical conditions that require intensive rehabilitation.
They are not the focus of breaking news alerts. Yet their need for rehabilitation is every bit as urgent today as it was before October 7.
Maintaining essential services
As philanthropic resources are deployed to address the aftermath of war and destruction, nonprofits across Israel are being forced to rethink how they engage supporters and sustain essential services. The task is no longer only to make the case for their work, but to find new ways to bring people closer to needs that are urgent, even when they are no longer visible in the headlines.
For children requiring rehabilitation, however, there is no option to pause and wait for a more convenient moment.
That is why ALYN’s Desert Night Hike, taking place today and tomorrow, carries meaning this year. Scores of hikers will set out together from Sde Boker and walk through the night on a 9-km. trek. But they will not be walking alone. Each participant has mobilized a community of friends, family members, colleagues, and supporters who have chosen to sponsor their journey and contribute to the children of ALYN.
The symbolism of walking through the darkness of the desert could not be more fitting. It reflects the reality faced by ALYN and by many nonprofits across Israel today: the path ahead is uncertain, resources are harder to secure, and the usual routes are no longer enough. Yet we keep walking, we keep moving forward, because the children who depend on rehabilitation cannot wait for the light to return.
The writer is the executive director of Friends of ALYN Hospital.