Our Campers

Since opening in summer 2012, Jordan River Village has changed the lives of 21,000 campers and counting.

Jordan River Village is located in Israel’s Galilee, but we accept children from all over Israel. Our campers live with variety of serious and chronic illnesses including: cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, Cystic Fibrosis, Epilepsy, Familial Dysautonomia, cardiovascular diseases, Hemophilia, Type 1 Diabetes, heart, kidney and liver transplants, neurological disorders, rheumatic diseases, severe asthma, trauma victims, burn victims, and other conditions.

These campers represent the gamut of Israeli society—rich and poor, Jewish and Arab Israeli, Hebrew and Arabic speakers, religious and secular, as well as those whose diseases can be seen and those who look completely healthy. The Village was founded as an apolitical organization with a principle that ALL children deserve to experience childhood. As such, no child is ever turned away because of race, religion, ethnicity, or socio-economic level.

Each year Jordan River Village welcomes

• 1800 campers
• 170 families
• 180 caregivers
• 330 teachers and school aides

Illnesses We Support

Each year we have host sessions, representing approximately 20 distinct diseases including conditions like:

• Cancer
• Cerebral Palsy
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Epilepsy
• Heart Defects
• Hemophilia
• Heart & Liver Transplant recipients
• Metabolic Diseases
• Psychiatric conditions
• Rheumatic Diseases
• Severe Asthma
• Type 1 Diabetes
• Any many other diseases and disorders…

Camp Sessions

Jordan River Village hosts multiple sessions and programs throughout the year:

• Our flagship week-long sessions
• Family weekends
• School Sessions – multi-day field trips at the Village for children attending special needs schools with their teachers and aides.
• Heroes Journey
• Village on Wheels
• Hospital Outreach at Rambam

At these sessions and programs, campers meet other children who face the same challenges, make lifelong friends, and create important social networks.

2022 Goals:

• Camp Sessions: We expect to welcome 1,600 sick children in school sessions, family weekends, independent sessions, and our unique Heroes Journey program.
• Happening Days: We expect to host 4 single camp days for 120 sick children and their families (approximately 460 people).
• JRV on Wheels: We expect to provide in-home programming to 20 sick children and their families in a 3-month cycle.
• Camp in a suitcase (Hospital Outreach Program): With 2 full-time in-house volunteers placed in Rambam Hospital, the Village expect to provide programming for 2,300 children in the long-term hospital pediatric wards and respite for their parents.

Learn More

Learn more about our campers, programs & our impact.

Village Activities

Our Impact

In Our Own Words…