A Grand Opening – Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, at Garden of Our New Home at 1000 17th St on February 20, 2018

Following years of effort, Child Life Society has completed the renovations of a second Lifeshine Respite home in Key West, Florida, enabling many more children to enjoy the unique therapeutic environment and experience long-lasting relief from their symptoms.

A Grand Opening – Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, will take place at the elegantly appointed Garden of Our New Home at 1000 17th St on February 20, 2018.

Children and adults suffering from cystic fibrosis can now breathe a sigh of relief, as Child Life Society has purchased a new therapeutic respite home in Key West, FL, on their behalf.

The home is centrally located, on a spacious picturesque property and includes a swimming pool. Child Life Society – which, since the late 1990s, has served as the sole Jewish community organization in America to assist cystic fibrosis patients

The new home will be Child Life Society’s second Key West home that will host families for its “Lifeshine Respite Program.”This program enables Jewish community families from across the continent who suffer from cystic fibrosis get to significantly alleviate the debilitating symptoms of this disease.

Cystic fibrosis has no cure and spending time in Key West’s unique high salt, aquatic climate has been medically proven to offer the greatest relief possible by loosening the mucus inside patients’ respiratory and digestive systems. For as long as 6-8 months after returning home from Key West, every breath is easier, appetite is increased, and lung infections and hospitalizations are reduced by about 50%.

Lifeshine Respite is the only program of its kind in North America. Having two homes instead of one – the first was inaugurated in November 2013 – enables Child Life Society to bring many more suffering families a year on therapeutic respite trips to Key West. Due to medical considerations, only one family can stay in a home at a time, and desperate families had to frequently be turned down as a result of the space shortage.

These therapeutic respite trips are fully sponsored, including airfare, car rental, kosher food and all other necessities. Parents and siblings of the cystic fibrosis patients are brought along on the trips. The whole family can relax and rejuvenate together from the unbearable physical and emotional toll that the disease takes on the entire family.

Rabbi Chaim A. Wolkenfeld, founder and director of Child Life Society, is pleased that the new home is now a reality, following years of tireless work.

“Thanks to the support of friends across North America, and the support we expect to continue receiving from our community’s, the lives of many more families can take a real turn for the better,”  says Rabbi Wolkenfeld. “That is the goal that we continue to strive towards.”

For more information, or to inquire about donation/dedication options, please visit www.childlifesociety.org or call 718-288-9547.  

Abie’s Mother writes;

The air in Key West did wonders for Abie’s lungs. The salt water is proven to be very good if inhaled enough through swim and play, and the fact that he was able to be swimming in an ocean during this time of the year really helped his condition both at the present time as well as now that we’ve been back almost a whole month later.

Rochel’s Father writes;

We want to thank you for enabling our daughter to get a chance to relax, unwind and get away from the stress of her everyday life. Having CF is tough enough, but adding 2 hours of treatments to a 9 to 12 hour school day is tiring. What you do for families like us means more than you can know.

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