Gali & Adi

We're raising funds once again for our two wonderful girls, Gali and Adi. In the past year our girls had accomplished so much but unfortunately we're in desperate need of funds to continue their education and therapies.
In the past year our family has been devoted to help our girls to make progress, at any cost to us as parents and to our two other teenaged girls.

In addition to her Autism, Gali is underweight and had lost more weight at the beginning of the year. After being hospitalized for dehydration and being sick we've turn to NSU Feeding Clinic. She had recently completed an intensive 3 months of the feeding therapy. The therapy sessions were on a daily basis and required one of the parents to be present. This caused us a sever loss of income but the therapy is helping Gali eat solid food, try new food and due to that she had gained some weight.
Although Adi had made progress in her academics in "Kesher" School, she still requires many hours of therapies.

Its imperative that the girls will continue their therapies and special needs education, each in her own level.
We're asking for your help so our girls will be able to continue to make progress. We're so glad Gali and Adi are finally in the right supporting setting at their current schools and we're working hard to raise funds so we could keep them there. 

We thank you and appreciate any contribution and please share our campaign!

For those who care but don't know us, please read our story below.

The Rimon Family



OUR STORY

Parenting a child with autism takes courage and passion! It brings out the worst in you, as well as the best in you. One minute you hate it, the next minute you embrace it. You steam with anger and excel with excitement. You anguish over the challenges your children experience, but marvel at their endurance and passions. Your child teaches you to view love, life, and happiness in a different light.
Our Gali and Adi's Autism – our family’s Autism – is a fact of our lives. It challenges every one of us – none more than our baby girl. We walk a high wire, arms out, heads up. We search for our footing; we fight for our balance. We scan the crowd. We seek compassion. We sniff out pockets of understanding.
We hound the experts. We beg, borrow and steal the tools for our girl to live the fullest life she possibly can. We pray for acceptance.
It isn’t easy. Not by a long shot.

Looking back, it was hard for us to receive the Autism diagnosis and deal with it as a family. We immediately tried to collect all of the information that we could about Autism and began reaching out to other families in our community who also had a child on the spectrum.
It didn’t take us long to understand that we, as a family, had to do whatever we could to support and help Gali and Adi. We also found out very early on that state and government services are not even close to providing what the girls needed. Gali and Adi went through several assessments and started to receive speech, occupational, and physical therapies which were funded by our private insurance.
As the girls reached the age of 3, we could notice the obvious gap between them. Adi had already started to communicate verbally, showed motivation to learn and play with other children, and was able to follow directions to become more independent in her day to day routine. On the other hand, Gali showed no progress in her verbal communication and had no interest in learning to communicate with others. In addition, Gali developed a very serious Sensory and Eating Disorder.
We knew the public school couldn’t accommodate the girls’ needs so we started the search for a private school. There were not many options available. One of our main concerns was our daily operations and commute. Having to worry about four girls being dropped off and picked up daily from four different locations seemed impossible, as we both work full time. We decided not to give up, as again, we had no other choice. We were informed about scholarships and financial aid that were available to us at that time. We also turned to family and friends to try and raise funds so that the girls could start their first year in a school that was a fit for them.
The financial and emotional burden became worse for us after we found out that Gali was not making any progress in school. Her reports showed no academic advancement and an increase in behavior issues. Her Sensory Disorder had come to play a major role in her life – she was having difficulties wearing clothes and shoes, eating solid food, and tolerating loud and crowded environments. At this point we were back to stage one, where we once again we had no idea which educational facility in our area would be able to accommodate Gali.
The Victory Center is now Gali’s only hope, where she can finally receive the help she needs in order to gain academic and life skills. Gali has no choice but to receive a one-to-one ratio, and this comes at a very high cost financially. Tuition at The Victory Center is much higher than at the other special needs schools. We were able to use the funds we collected for Gali in the past and registered her for a Half Day this past February when we pulled her from her old school. Unfortunately, this was only a temporary solution, as Gali is in need of a Full Day of therapy in a contained environment, which we can’t provide to her at home.
Our whole family is dedicated to help Gali and Adi become more independent individuals and enjoy life. We have no assets or savings left to fund not only the tuition but other much needed therapies. We understand that our situation is not temporary, as each year the cost of tuition and services is increasing, in addition to other life expenses. We have applied to all the non-profit organizations in our community, as well as government agencies who offer financial aid to families in our situation. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) we were notified about a waiting list that is at least 7 years long for any additional funding.
It’s a race against time. Time that we don’t have.

GALI 
Our amazing daughter is 9 years old. Although never quiet, Gali is considered nonverbal. On the Autism Spectrum she is considered low-middle Autism. She was diagnosed at age of 3 after a long, frustrating journey. She is potty trained, yet has no self-care. She also has many sensory issues which include difficulties eating. She loves using sounds and visuals to self-stimulate. She also has some level of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). She is extremely rigid, and, according to what the professionals tell us, she is delayed in all areas. We have no crystal ball to tell us what the future holds.
Putting all of the clinical “stuff” aside, she is one of the most amazing girls we know. She came into our life (along with her twin sister) with the force of a tornado and hasn’t stopped moving since she was born.
This is the real Gali. The one that we know. She is funny, beautiful and absolutely charming. She finds joy in the simplest things and every day is the best day of her life. She knows no greed or jealousy. She doesn’t understand complex emotions. She spends her day laughing at silly sounds and watching funny videos. She begs to be tickled and squeezed. When she laughs our heart melts. On more than one occasion we have been told by people in Gali’s life that she has changed their lives. She is a pure joy.
This is our journey, how we are navigating Autism together.