Chabad of Great Neck Rabbi Joseph Geisinsky said his congregation offers a number of programs for special needs children to help integrate them into society.
To improve Chabad of Great Neck’s goal of providing services and programs for children with special needs, Geisinsky said, the temple will be holding a walk-a-thon on May 22 to raise awareness and money for its programs.
“We feel that those children can be integrated into the mainstream by offering them integrated programs,” he said. “This way the community can see that those people are not strange, they are part of us.”
Beginning at the Mashadi Jewish Center of Great Neck at 54 Steamboat Road, congregants, volunteers, community members and children will walk one mile to raise funds for The Friendship Circle, a non-profit Jewish organization that supports children with special needs.
According to the Friendship Circle’s website, branches of the organization are “operated by its local Chabad Lubavitch Center, and entirely supported by each local community to benefit local children with special needs.”
The synagogue’s Friendship Circle offers various programs for teenaged volunteers to spend time with a special needs child, Geisinsky said.
The programs, he said, include sports, music, art and cooking, as well as Sunday trips to entertaining places for the children.
Geisinsky said the walk-a-thon would help fund an expansion of the programs for children with special needs.
“Anywhere we can go and run another program and invite more children, that’s what were aiming for,” he said. “We’re aiming to expand our programs to offer more to children.”
While the walk serves as a fundraiser, Geisinsky said, it is also meant to bring the community together in support of a worthy cause.
“The main focus of it is that the community comes together to support a child with special needs,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you are or what your beliefs are, we all have the same belief that we need to help a child with special needs.”
The walk begins at noon and will conclude in front of Chabad of Great Neck at 400 East Shore Road, where there will be a carnival for walkers to enjoy after the event is over, Geisinsky said.
Anybody interested in attending the walk-a-thon can register online at walk4friendshipgn.com. Tickets cost $18.
“This has nothing to do with religion or any affiliation,” Geisinsky said. “Anyone is welcome and invited to join this as a united project.”
