The Parent-Child Center is a comprehensive program that improves the lives of at-risk children and their parents through counseling, enrichment, and therapy programs. To improve parent-child relationships, the Center offers workshops to empower and instill confidence in single and young mothers. Furthermore, the Center provides therapeutic support to parents and their children through individual and dyadic (parent-child) therapy sessions, as well as a variety of activities offered in the Center’s Therapeutic Playroom. The Center’s programming is based on the notion that early childhood experiences are the most crucial in shaping a child’s life. Throughout the year, the Parent-Child Center serves 400 disadvantaged families, from diverse backgrounds, with children ages 0-6 in the greater Jaffa area. Recognizing the community’s unmet needs, the Parent-Child Center recently opened an additional site in the impoverished neighborhood of Kfar Shalem in South Tel Aviv.
The Food Distribution Center distributes food packages to more than 400 households every month as well as thousands of extra food packages during the Jewish holidays for families in need. Families and individuals are referred to the Institute by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Welfare Department. Furthermore, the center assists in purchasing baby products, food and diapers for families with young children. The process of packing the food packages is completed by volunteers from local schools, the local community, synagogues and churches from abroad, and many others. The distribution process is carried out in a completely anonymous manner. Volunteers deliver the packages to the person’s door, or if they are not home, leave closed packages, without any logos or identifying features on them in the person’s doorway.