Skip to Main Content
PLANT TREES IN ISRAEL
Jewish National Fund logo
  • Plant Trees
  • JNF In Your Area
  • Visit Israel
  • Shop
  • DONATE
X
Jewish National Fund logo
  • Our Vision
  • Our Work
  • Ways To Help
    • Ways To Give

      • Plant a Tree
      • Directed Giving
      • Planned Giving
      • Be Inscribed
      • Plant Your Way to Israel
      • EZ Tree®
      • JNF Store
      • Create or Find a Tribute
      • Create or Find a Memorial
      • Personal Fundraising
      • Open a Donor Advised Fund
      • Donate Cryptocurrency

      Get Involved

      • JNFuture
      • Women For Israel
      • Finance for Israel
      • Healthcare For Israel
      • Lawyers for Israel
      • Real Estate Division
      • Rabbis for Israel
      • Donor Societies
      • Join a Task Force

      Resources

      • JNF Boruchin Center
      • Shiva Resources
      • ZTV Zionism Studios
      • Speakers Bureau
      • Jewish Future Promise
  • News & Media
 

Stay on top of the latest Jewish National Fund news

New code

By providing a telephone number and submitting this form, you are consenting to be contacted by SMS/MMS text message (our message frequency may vary). Message & data rates may apply. Reply Stop2End. See our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Impact Blog

Mother Nature program: Helping battered women heal through the great outdoors

| Jewish National Fund
blog-image-xvx8fg5h310
A child's depiction of the LOTEM Mother Nature outing. 

Mothers and children splashing in a stream.
There are currently 13 shelters for battered women and children in Israel, housing up to 650 residents per year. Imagine the fear, isolation, and trauma experienced by these victims, not being able to leave their residences alone, afraid of being recognized or followed. 

LOTEM - Making Nature Accessible, recognizing the need to promote trust, independence, and leadership in these moms and kids, has developed the Mother Nature program to provide days of relief and respite to them through the healing power of nature.

LOTEM -- which offers educational outdoor activities throughout the country for children and adults with special needs -- also guides trips for battered women and their kids, from newborns to teens, into parks, trails, and quiet streams. There, participants learn about their surroundings, including lessons about ecology and seasonal patterns in vegetation and animals that they can relate to their own stormy lives. 

The natural surroundings allow the participants to relax and let go. Hadas, director of a Haifa shelter for battered women, says that one day in nature often does more for the women and children than several therapy sessions.

On one nature outing, a woman was sitting with her children on the bus. "It’s the first time that anybody has ever organized a field trip for me, taken me on a bus and pampered me," she said excitedly. Throughout the outing, every landscape and every piece of nature excited her. She told her children, "Stop fighting. We don’t know when the next time will be that we will be privileged to experience a day like this."

Unfortunately, this important and wonderful program is in need of help as its funding has been cut. To give mothers and children the services to heal through nature, please consider a gift to Lotem. Learn more here. 

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF B’YACHAD ONLINE EXACTLY AS IT APPEARS IN PRINT

Experience B’Yachad cover to cover with every beautiful photo and original piece of art, from the convenience of your computer screen. READ NOW >

READ NOW magazine image
< Return to blog home
Phone:800.JNF.0099
Email:[email protected]

About JNF

Planned Giving

JNF Boruchin Center

Impact Blog

IsraelCast – JNF Podcast

JNF Videos

Leadership

News & Media

Employment Opportunities

Accessibility

Privacy Policy

Contact Us

FAQs

Terms & Conditions

National Office
42 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10021 USA
(212)879-9300

Israel Office
Jewish National Fund-USA
C/O WeWork
King George 20
Jerusalem, Israel
972-2-563-5638

Find Local Office
Jewish National Fund is listed by the IRS as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit with a Federal Tax ID of 13-1659627. All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Copyright © 2021 by Jewish National Fund
Logo white image
AMHSI Logo image
Charity navigator logo image
BBB logo image