Adi, Head of the Kiryat Malachi War Room, describes: One of our tasks is to organize private activities for children who can't leave the bomb shelter due to a certain disability (disabled, autistic or special needs children); in such a case, a One Heart volunteer is called on and is up to the task. The saying here is that if camp doesn't come to you, to the shelter, we, One Heart, will come to you.
In one case, two volunteers visited a single mother who had not left the house for 2 weeks with her three anxiety ridden children. The grandmother had come down from Sderot at the start of the war, once the rockets had started, and for 2 weeks they hadn't put their makeup on and didn't even go out to the grocery store to get milk.
The volunteers came to her home, and while they played with the kids they learned from the mom that her daughter had not gotten a birthday party, since the family had not left the house the entire time. After some effort, the volunteers were able to convince the children to leave the house and go down to the bomb shelter. Following a fun and joyful activity, the kids did not want to go back home.
That day, the volunteers decided to do something that would never be forgotten by the mom and grandmother – they went to the grocery store and bought a cake, balloons, a crown, and a birthday present, and together with the neighborhood children and the family, celebrated the daughter's birthday. For the first time in 2 weeks, the mom and grandmother left the house, putting their makeup on and going down to the shelter. Thanks to the One Heart volunteers, the family could go back to their lives and celebrate a birthday for their overjoyed daughter.