This year, due to the devastation Israeli children faced because of the war, the Jewish Agency sponsored thousands of Israeli kids to attend summer camps in the United States. This summer, the Geerz program in Camp Moshava Wild Rose had the privilege to work with 100 of these kids from Kfar Maimon, Netivot, and surrounding areas. 

These kids flourished with the warmth, freedom and adventure of Geerz at Moshava. We were grateful to be part of helping them regain the joy of being kids, while overcoming challenges and giving them tools to face future obstacles head-on. New programs for them have been planned back in Israel so these kids can continue to progress with Geerz throughout the year.

Four years ago, Geerz launched its first youth village program in Neve Landy in southern Israel. This year, Geerz will run 25 groups in Israeli youth villages, serving hundreds of kids across the country.

There are 70 youth villages across Israel that serve 15,000 kids. Youth villages provide a place for children who are not safe at home, physically, psychologically or emotionally. For most of these kids, the youth village is their home. 

It was an ambitious undertaking, as the challenges these children face were vastly different from those in our community groups. Additionally, we had to purchase bikes and equipment for each of the kids. The risk paid off. Youth villages try many interventions, but most do not succeed. With Geerz, the youth village social workers and directors clearly saw the physical, mental, and emotional gains, but most of all: the kids showed up.

The demand for Geerz from youth village directors continues to grow. Geerz is honored to be part of this incredible work.

The traumatic events of the past year have affected nearly every child in Israel. For those in youth villages, special education programs, and periphery areas, the psychological toll has been even more severe.

As a therapeutic sports program, Geerz doubled the training hours to prepare our instructors and assistants, adding sessions throughout the year with a psychologist, special education professionals, and a social worker, focusing on sensitivity training and effective use of rules and boundaries with kids. Geerz also refined their feedback system to evaluate and improve the program. 

This year, Geerz is thrilled to be the subject of a groundbreaking study on the impact of therapeutic mountain biking on social and emotional outcomes in adolescents. 

Over the past few years, Geerz has opened dozens of new programs to meet the growing demand for our revolutionary therapeutic mountain biking program. To streamline our rapidly expanding organization and achieve our vision of transforming the lives of thousands of kids across Israel, we’ve hired several key staff members to help us reach our ambitious goals. We are pleased to introduce them:

Tobey Finkelstein, Director of Advancement:

Originally from Baltimore, Tobey entered the Jewish nonprofit sector, where she pioneered the use of digital marketing and crowdfunding. Tobey fell in love with Israel while spending a year in a Jerusalem seminary and during a semester at Hebrew University. In 2018, she fulfilled a dream by moving to Israel, where she now lives in Beit Shemesh with her husband and three children. She’s excited to leverage her vast nonprofit experience to help Geerz expand and empower children across Israel through its unique vision and therapeutic model.

Shimon Aharon, Program Manager of Operations:

Shimon is a highly regarded project manager with over fifteen years of experience in high-tech and fintech. Originally from the UK, Shimon moved to Israel 30 years ago, where he now lives with his wife and six children. After the horrors of October 7th, Shimon sought to volunteer for reserve duty, but due to his age, the IDF turned him away. Determined to contribute in any way he could, he became intrigued and inspired by Geerz’s work with children affected by the war. He decided to transition from the private sector to the nonprofit world. Shimon brings cutting-edge business and management tools to Geerz and is creating a strategy to manage the organization’s rapid growth.

Sender Gross, Geerz Head Instructor:

Born in Israel and the oldest of ten children, Sender moved to the U.S. at age ten. He studied business and worked in the retirement community/assisted living sector as a consultant. Eight years ago, he returned to Israel, where he now lives in Yad Binyamin with his wife and four children. Sender first learned about Geerz through his brother Avromi, who has participated in every GIG ride. After joining the last two GIG rides and working as a Geerz instructor, he was deeply impressed by the impact on his family and the kids he taught. As Head Instructor, Sender is responsible for quality control, ensuring that all instructors are well-trained and effectively implementing the Geerz curriculum. His enthusiasm and professionalism make him an outstanding addition to the growing Geerz family.

Nechama Kolom, Program Coordinator:

Nechama grew up in Chicago and attended Ida Crown Jewish Academy. After a year at Sh'alavim for Women, she studied biology at Stern College and made Aliyah in 2022 at the age of 22. Now living in Ramat Beit Shemesh with her husband, Nechama first encountered Geerz at Camp Moshava, where she saw the need for effective informal education. She was inspired to join an organization at the forefront of therapeutic programming for kids in Israel. Nechama plans to use her creativity and strong organizational skills to make a significant impact at Geerz.