The trio reached out to Chai Lifeline, a Manhattan-based organization that offers family-centered programs, activities and services for seriously ill children and their families. The organization put them in touch with its social worker, Andy Lauber, who also lives in Woodmere. “A lot of them suffer in silence and feel guilty about having complaints,” Lauber said of children who have terminally ill brothers, sisters or parents. “They lack positive attention and stability, and in turn fall behind socially and emotionally.”
When i-Shine was created in 2007, eight students signed up to attend the program at the Lower School every Monday and Wednesday from 4 to 6:30 p.m., and the number has since grown to nearly 40. The students are from the Lawrence School District and neighboring yeshivas such as the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, the Torah Academy for Girls in Far Rockaway and the Woodmere-based Yeshiva of South Shore, among others. “i-Shine is the one place where all backgrounds can come together, play and heal together,” Zrihen said. “There are no dividing lines between the schools. Everyone enjoys being together.”
High school and college students are paired with a child to help him or her with homework, and together they take part in activities such as cooking, arts and crafts and sports. Adult volunteers, such as Sheri Hammer of Woodmere, drive students to and from the school, supervise their activities and help serve dinner. “I feel like this is something that is so needed and undervalued,” she said. “You can make such a difference in the student’s daily life just by being there for them.”
Hammer added that the students’ lives are more stable thanks to i-Shine. “When kids come into the room, they’re able to roll the stress they feel off their backs, and they feel loved and taken care of,” she said, tearing up. “Their worlds are upside down, and for five hours a week their lives are changed.”