ALEH does more than care for its residents and encourage their integration into society. ALEH is showing society what the disabled can teach us. In the words of volunteer Dina Beck, “We all want to be the best, but…there is more to being perfect than being perfect. Perfection occurs when there are attempts to succeed and the willpower to succeed does not flounder. It is not reaching the top of the ladder, but climbing it despite the buffeting winds.”
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Bringing out the Best in Others
Curtis Sparks of Anchorage, Alaska, is a devout Christian who works with disabled adults in residential facilities in his community. For the last seven years, Sparks, a six-foot-five former college basketball player, has been taking off a month and a half each year to volunteer at ALEH. “Learning more about disabilities can make you humble,” says Sparks. “Working with the disabled, I have learned to see people for who they are, not the way they were made.”
ALEH in the Negev
Major General (Res.) Doron Almog was in line to become Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, the crowning achievement of a thirty-year military career, when he resigned from the military in order to build the most extraordinary village for special needs individuals that exists anywhere in the world today: ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran. Almog’s son, Eran, was born with severe brain damage. When Almog learned that upon turning twenty-one his son would no longer have a suitable program, he conceived of a village that would become home to Eran and some 200 young adults like him. Following Eran’s untimely death after living in ALEH Negev for a year, the village was named after him. ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran has attracted the attention of experts across the globe. Innovative in many ways, the home includes a kindergarten for 45 regular children, providing another opportunity for those with severe disabilities to interact with the outside world.