Project Sunshine International
ISRAEL
Project Sunshine Israel launched its programs in February, 2008. In the past year Project Sunshine Israel has provided weekly programming at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petach Tikvah and monthly events at Meir Hospital in K’far Saba. In 2008, 70 volunteers delivered programming to over 670 children and 115 family members.
"The goal of the project is to give the hospitalized children the opportunity to play and be children, and forget if only for a few hours, about their daily hospital routine. I can say it felt amazing! I felt huge satisfaction being there, for a few hours, putting my daily routine aside and giving from myself. It's so easy to see when the kids lose the cheerless attitude and start smiling back at you. They remember your name, and in the end of the day you really feel GOOD." – Yuval Passov, Chapter Leader & Board Member
For more information on volunteering, or to make a donation to Project Sunshine Israel, please contact Board Member and Chapter Leader Yuval Passov at yuvalpassovisrael@projectsunshine.org. View recent PS Israel press here.
KENYA
In January 2006, Project Sunshine created Project Sunshine Kenya as a pilot program to address the international issues of access to medical care, stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS and social support. To date, Project Sunshine Kenya, in conjunction with New York University’s Center for AIDS Research, has grown to serve over 1,000 children and families living with HIV/AIDS in Mombasa, Kenya.
Project Sunshine’s volunteers come from Bomu Medical Center’s Post-Test Club, a group of community leaders who have been tested for HIV/AIDS, and publicly expose their status as a way of raising awareness to practice safe behavior and get tested for HIV. The eleven Post-Test Club volunteers enable Project Sunshine to provide programs for Kenyans delivered by Kenyans and are the heart of this volunteer effort.
Project Sunshine Kenya’s activities include reading, writing, arts and crafts, safe water and hand-washing programs, and special events for children and families living with HIV/AIDS.
According to a nurse at Bomu Medical Center, “Project Sunshine’s programs are an essential part of the HIV treatment and therapy at Bomu. Families turn to Project Sunshine just as they turn to medical treatment - they can’t have one without the other.”
For more information on Project Sunshine Kenya, please contact Naomi@projectsunshine.org. Click here for Photos of Project Sunshine Kenya
CANADA
Project Sunshine's programs in Toronto, Canada provide free social, recreational, and educational
services to children facing medical challenges in several facilities throughout the region.
For more information on volunteering with Project Sunshine in Toronto, individually or with your
corporation, please contact CanadaInfo@projectsunshine.org.
CHINA
Project Sunshine launched its new international program in China in February 2008.
In an effort to serve a diverse group of children, Project Sunshine China provides programming to two medical
facilities in Beijing. One facility serves abandoned and orphaned children facing medical challenges,and
the other serves children facing mental health challenges. The children Project Sunshine serves range in age
from newborn to twenty-one years-old, come from all socio-economic classes, and arrive at the facilities in Beijing
from wide-ranging geographic locations and diverse family situations. Our volunteers are students from a
local university’s social work department and individuals who work in corporations in Beijing.
Project Sunshine's programs are for Chinese children, delivered by Chinese volunteers in a dual effort to provide
individual attention and stimulation to the children, while simultaneously empowering the volunteers.
For more information on Project Sunshine China please contact Jing@projectsunshine.org
