With the outbreak of the war in Israel we have initiated the project "Riding Forward" for the sake of Gaza Strip and north kids.
Thousands of kids were evacuated from their houses at the Gaza strip and the southern area of Israel.
These kids have witnessed and survived a cruel terror attack! Some of them have lost their families and dear ones including parents, siblings and other family members.
The kids are dealing with physical difficulties and emotional traumas that will stay with them for a long time and might never leave.
All the kids hang out at the hotels without neither learning platform, daily routine nor friends and familiar people. They all got an extreme feeling of foreigners and refugees in their own country. The kids have a feeling of losing their innocence and childhood.
• Bicycle! Researchers show that challenging riding contributes to the rider's self esteem and personal confident and it's known as a therapy tool.
• During October we have noticed the growing difficulties of the children and right away we took our bikes to the evacuees' centers. We have reached dozens of centers all around Israel (from Eilat to Dead Sea and to the north). We have made 2,000 children being activated (within only one month) – and it's just the beginning.
• For this purpose, we have recruited professional leading instructors, Olympic riders and attendants, all of them are working as volunteers. The teams reach the centers with professional facilities like ramps and more and they are all work according to the content and activities we developed especially for this project.
"When will you come back?" is the most common question we are asked by the kids after every single activity.
Riding Forward with the Israel Bicycle Association
When we have witnessed the effectiveness of the project "Riding Forward", its dramatic and positive effect on the children who take part in it, along with the understanding the war in Israel will be long and the reconstruction of the home front will take even longer, in a way the evacuees won't return to their houses in the upcoming months, we have formulated a plan for months ahead as an obligation to the evacuees. Here are its main ideas:0
Every evacuate center will receive a cart carrying about 30 pair of bicycles suits for the ages of 6-17 years.
The team includes an instructor and 4 assistants who reaches the place, get the bicycle and the equipment ready and invite the kids to join them.
The kids learn how to ride a bicycle, improve different riding styles, ride challengingly or basic ride.
This can take place with the program we developed that combines fun and challenging riding that empowers the children and helps them earning back their feelings of ability, success and self-confident.
Our main goal is to reach every single child who is evacuated from his home and give the children the opportunity to get more strength and empower them by the unique tool of challenging riding.
According to estimates there are more than 330,000 Israelis who have evacuated from their homes, of which approximately 120,000 are kids.
The number of inquiries we receive from the evacuee centers increases everyday and reinforces the need of having long term programs for them. These are the main targets by terms:
Short Term Goals (up to 3 months):
• To Increase the number of places we will reach for a one-day activity and we will provide thousands more children in their areas. Today we hold 3-6 weekly events, and our goal is reaching 6-10 events every week.
• In several centers we will set a regular and stable activity: Permanent riding groups with permanent team, that will provide the kids stability environment, relaxing surrounding and a path of reenforce ability and self-confident as well as developing new cycling skills.
Mid- and Long-Term Goals (3-9 months):
• We will expand the number of centers which we will conduct regular activities for the evacuees wherever they are, weather i