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My ALYN Ride

#MyALYNRide Personal Challenge for ALYN Hospital

0% raised of $2,000,000
#MyALYNRide

RIDE A BIKE, CHANGE A LIFE. ANYWHERE.

Due to the risks presented by the pandemic, we were unable to hold Wheels of Love 2020 as planned in October 2020. Given the continued uncertainty related to COVID-19 and the Ministry of Health’s guidelines, coupled with our interest to protect the health of our cyclists, staff and volunteers, we knew that cancelling the regular 5-day event was the only appropriate decision.

In the meantime, we encourage you to continue riding on your own and in your communities.  If we can’t ride together, at least we can be together in spirit with our virtual option, #MyALYNRide!  We encourage you to participate – you can still register! Let us know how we can support you in your efforts.

So many of our cyclists have been participating and fundraising from home.  Even though the ride didn’t happen as planned, ALYN still needs our support.

We hope to see you next year under better and healthier circumstances.

The 2021 Wheels of Love ride will be held October 24-28, 2021. 

#MyALYNRide

If you are on Strava, go to “Explore-Clubs” and request to join the club for your route. If you are not yet on Strava, go to Strava.com and open a free account. When you upload your rides, they will appear here.  (You will need a GPS device to record your activity.)

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#MyALYNRide Personal Challenges

Your ALYN Fundraising Tool Kit

We know that for many of you, the thought of asking friends for money to fundraise for the ride is uncomfortable and might be uncharted territory. Don’t worry – fundraising is much easier and more rewarding than you might expect, especially when you are raising money for such an incredible cause.

ALYN Hospital is such a unique and special place, that once you share with others about the hospital and the children receiving rehabilitation there, people will be willing to support you. How do we know? We have nearly 20 years of experience and thousands of riders who have successfully raised money for ALYN as proof.


WHERE TO START

Remember, the people who will sponsor you will do so because of your relationship with them. They are YOUR friends and YOUR family! They trust what you have to say. The more personal you can make the request, the better.

Start by personalizing your fundraising page.  You can login to your fundraising page and change the goal and the text. If you need help, just ask us. 

Once you have your page set up the way you like it, send the link with an email to your contacts. You can post it on Facebook or other social media. Again, the more personal you can make the request, the more likely you are lto receive a favorable response.

We have a sample letter you can use (Fundraising Tool #2). Make sure to tweak it and make it personal, so that the people you are asking know it is a genuine ask from you. Then follow these four steps:

  1. Aim high. Set an ambitious fundraising goal for yourself. There are many incentive gifts as our way of saying thank you for going the extra mile.  If you raise more than $5,000, you will earn free registration for next year’s ride! 
  2. Make a personal donation. Lead by example. To convince others to make a contribution, it helps to show that you are equally committed to the cause. 
  3. Ask friends and family. It’s easiest to start with those closest to you. Once you convey your excitement about your personal challenge and they learn about ALYN, they will be happy to support you. Suggest an amount with which they would be comfortable.
  4. Expand your asking circle. If you think beyond closest family and friends, there are endless possibilities: neighbors, work colleagues and business associates, acquaintances from school, college, synagogue/church, the health club and your biking club.

    If you work for a company with a matching gifts program, you may be able to multiply the effect of your gift. A basic rule of fundraising is that the main reason people give is because they have been asked by someone they know and trust. That someone is you!

Thank you letters. Make sure to send a short, personal thank you to each sponsor. Your sponsors will also receive an official thank you and receipt from ALYN, but they will appreciate the personal outreach and the sincere gratitude.

OTHER FUNDRAISING IDEAS:

Corporate sponsorships. Wheels of Love offers public relations opportunities in exchange for corporate sponsorships. There are a number of underwriting opportunities. Please contact the office with questions.

Fundraising events. Fundraising doesn’t only have to include sending emails and letters. A number of our riders have come up with creative ways to engage their friends, family members and community to help raise funds for their ride. Things that have been done in the past:

  • Spin class held at a local gym
  • Bowl-a-thon
  • Trampoline park outing
  • Team gear (hats, training jerseys) created with corporate sponsorships
  • Wine and cheese reception

If there is an event you would like to hold, the office would be happy to help in any way we can, including sending ALYN swag. We are here to support you in your fundraising. Please contact us at any time for ideas or to edit your fundraising page online.

If you use the letter below, make sure to personalize it with your name and the link to your fundraising page. 


Sample letter for first time riders

Subject: Support #MyALYNRide!

Dear

I’m very excited to share with you that this fall I will be participating in a virtual charity bike ride, #MyALYNRide, to benefit ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel’s premier rehabilitation facility for children with disabilities.

Every year, over 3,000 children come to ALYN to receive best-in-class care. Money raised through rides like mine is critical to ensuring that ALYN can continue to do amazing work – turning disabilities into abilities! The financial toll of the global pandemic means that we need your support now more than ever.

To honor the children being treated at ALYN, I will take on a personal challenge of [fill in your personal challenge – i.e. riding 200 miles between now and October 29, committing to riding on my indoor trainer three times a week for the next four weeks, spending a weekend with my teammates riding 50 miles a day in the Berkshires. Set a goal that is meaningful to you and that will help you raise funds and awareness about ALYN.]

Please support me in fulfilling this challenge. Your generosity will go a long way to help the children of ALYN who are working hard toward their rehabilitation.

There are two easy ways to donate to #MyALYNRide:

1. Donate online with a credit card at (INSERT YOUR FUNDRAISING LINK).

2. If you would like an American receipt, you can also send a check:

American Friends of ALYN Hospital
122 E. 42nd Street, Suite 1519, New York, NY 10168.

Thank you, in advance, for supporting me in my challenge and being as generous as you can be.

 

The American Friends of ALYN is a qualifying 501(c)(3) organization, and your contribution is tax deductible in the US. If you work for a company with a matching gifts program, you may be able to multiply the effect of your gift.

 

The work that ALYN does is inspiring. The more you can relate to your friends and family about the impact ALYN has on children, the more effective your fundraising will be. Here are three stories that demonstrate how important ALYN has been to so many families.


Roi: Coping with Cancer

Roi is 9 ½ years old from Jerusalem, the second of four children. He likes to play games like Legos, marbles, chess, checkers and to draw. He is an excellent student and particularly good at math.

Roi was diagnosed in January 2017 with brain cancer and came to ALYN Hospital after beginning his treatment. From the Channel 2 news broadcast: Roi started his treatment at ALYN Hospital as an inpatient in our Rehabilitation Department and is now a patient in the Day Hospitalization Department, coming for intensive therapeutic treatments four days a week. After the removal of the cancerous growth from the back of his head, he experienced serious developmental decline and didn’t talk or move for a long time.

Roi now is still too weak to walk alone or without the assistance of a walker, and uses a wheelchair for longer distances. At ALYN Hospital, Roi benefits from hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and emotional support therapies such as music & art therapy.

Since Roi has been missing regular school for many months, he also learns in our Learning Center so that he can keep up with his studies. “Hebrew and math are important to me” he says in the interview. His mother Gina says, “It wasn’t obvious that he would have his . . . anything. We had no idea what he would gain back, what he wouldn’t gain back. He loves math, so for me that’s amazing.” Later in the interview she says, “Every stage that he reaches, it’s simply a miracle.”

At the end of the interview, Roi says about his treatment at ALYN Hospital, “It helps me be myself and it helps me return to who I was before the surgery. A regular kid.”

 
Adina: Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury

Please help me help the kids at ALYN walk, talk, and go home to their families. I know what it’s like to be one of those kids. Because their story is my story”

Adina Elbaz was 16 years old when she was involved in a horrific accident. She was crossing the street on her way to school when a minibus hit her. She suffered a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and multiple injuries and traumas.

After her life was stabilized at another hospital, she was brought to ALYN for rehabilitation. She was unable to walk, talk, or do any activities independently. In the beginning of her treatment, she lived at ALYN 24 hours/day, 7 days a week.

Her mother was with her every morning, her father every evening, and family friends around the clock so that she was never alone. ALYN provided her with hydrotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychological treatment, and a range of other therapies. A team of around ten doctors, therapists, and specialists worked with her every day.

Gradually she was able to go home for a few days every week. Then after 7 months, she was able to go home and continued treatment as an ALYN outpatient. Under the care of ALYN, her progress was dramatic and exceeded all expectations. Seven years ago, she rode a tricycle at the finish line of Wheels of Love to welcome the hundreds of riders who had ridden all week in support of ALYN.

Six years ago, she rode a portion of one day of the ride as a member of the “Swift and the Bold” a team of riders made up of kids who have received treatment at ALYN. The next year, she rode a full day on a tandem bike with veteran ALYN rider Rocky Brody. Every year, she has ridden more. For the past few years, she has been training on her own mountain bike, riding more and more on her own -something that would have been unthinkable just a short time ago.

Yusef's miraculous journey to rehabilitation

This article is a summary translation to English by ALYN Hospital staff of extracts of the original article, which was written by Dana Ben Shimon. Photo credit: Yoav Dodkevich.  

“It was a rainy and stormy evening, Yusef fell down an elevator shaft in the dark, like in a movie,” recalls his father, Kazem. “A neighbor said that there was a child from the Jardat family who fell in a lift,” says the father. “I went down quickly and realised that it was Yusef.

The doctors told me that they couldn’t believe that he was alive after what happened.” Yusef was taken by ambulance to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, with a large fracture that split his face in two. At Hadassah, they performed the unbelievable – they were able to put his skull back together during a complicated operation. He was later transferred to ALYN Hospital for rehabilitation, with his family accompanying him throughout the process.

“When Yusef came to ALYN Hospital, he was not able to get up,” says his father. “Twice a day he underwent physiotherapy. He also received emotional care and a lot of encouragement from the staff. 

Yusef underwent rehabilitation treatment, during which he got back on his feet and began walking again. “We had to teach him how to walk again because he had a very complicated leg fracture. He also had difficulty speaking because of the fracture in his jaw and we helped him with that as well, in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and he was helped to eat independently”, explains Yusef’s accompanying physician in the rehabilitation department of ALYN Hospital. “His head injury was significant, but he was lucky that there was no brain damage. He also had fractures in his skull, and it’s very rare for someone who has experienced such an event to recover relatively quickly.

Recently, as the rehabilitation process progressed and his condition improved, Yusef began to go to the school that was established inside ALYN Hospital and learned Hebrew and English there. 

Of course we’re happy,” says the father. “In recent months I have barely left Yusef’s side, I have been with him all along, and his situation has improved slowly, but now he will be able to return to his family. Lately, he was able to come home on weekends, but now he will finally be able to sleep at home every day. This is the biggest relief.”

Aviel's Victory Run

This article has been summarized and translated to English by ALYN Hospital staff. The original article, written by Lior El Hai, appeared in Yediot Ahronoth on 13 March 2019. Photo credit: Alex Kolomoisky.

Tomorrow, three years after Aviel Avrahamoff’s leg was nearly amputated due to an accident, he will participate in the Jerusalem 5-K Run. The accident happened in Haifa during a fun day which he spent with his family when he was six years old. A driver who accidentally accelerated instead of braking, slid into a field near the road where Aviel was walking with his family and hit him.

Aviel was seriously injured. He was transferred to Rambam Medical Center and was rushed into the operating room. “The doctor told me that the situation was complicated, and it could be possible that in the middle of the operation he would ask me to sign an agreement to amputate Aviel’s entire leg. It was shocking to me that Aviel could return home with only one leg,” recalls Aviel’s mother, Vered.

Fortunately, the operation was successful. From that point on, Aviel began a long and difficult rehabilitation process at ALYN Hospital, in his home town of Jerusalem, which is a facility designed for rehabilitation especially for children and youth.

In the beginning, Aviel couldn’t even stand on the injured leg and found it difficult to move it. Thanks to the intensive and devoted care of the team, slowly but surely he made progress. He was eventually able to stand on both legs and even joined the running group of hospitalized children.

Nurit Stern, a senior physiotherapist at ALYN Hospital, said: “We are not satisfied with the fact that the children will only learn to walk again, therefore we are instilling in them the value of sport, training and overcoming difficulties.” At the end of the rehabilitation period, Aviel returned home, but continued to train with the running team.

Update: Aviel completed the Jerusalem 5-K last year!

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0% raised of $2,000,000
0% raised of $2,000,000
My ALYN Ride