The children, aged 10 to 14, live with severe physical and cognitive disabilities, some of whom are unable to talk. This made costume designing particularly difficult for the volunteers. The volunteers were especially concerned with giving the children the choice of designing their own costumes, as many are unable to control other aspects of their lives.
The initiative to make the costumes began after caretakers and parents mobilized on Zoom in order to coordinate the task by meeting with some of the children. From there, volunteers got to know the children and formulated ideas for costumes that would fit with the conditions that children face.
Among the children to participate included Hadar, 12, how dressed up as Minnie Mouse, Yisrael, 10, as a tree, Rafi, 11 as a DJ at a party, Noam, 13, as an entire orchestra and Giti, as a doll.
Noting the importance of creating joy on Purim, Gidi Grinstein, founder and president of TOM, said in response to the initiative that "I am proud of the TOM team who volunteered to design unique costumes and also to create a duplicate program that will be implemented next year in many other places in Israel and around the Jewish world."
"TOM is committed to a vision of improving the quality of life of 250 million people worldwide within a decade," Grinstein added.
Shoshan Cohen, a third-year student in the Department of Screen Arts at Bezalel, also remarked on the initiative, saying "Our ability as designers to collaborate and in this way fulfill dreams for children who need it and ultimately make them happy on Purim - is the essence of our profession and mission and it best illustrates the strength and values of Bezalel as an institution that is connected to the community."
"We look forward to more collaborations in the future for this blessed venture," she added.