200 of the world's biggest philanthropists arrived over the past few days in Israel to participate in the opening of the new National Shalva center for special needs children . The ceremony was attended by the president's wife Nehama Rivlin, Welfare Minister Haim Katz, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Olympic medalist Ori Sasson who established a special school for Judo for disabled children at the center and Dina Samta, who will light a torch at the Independence Day ceremony.
The new center, which cost an estimated 250 million dollars, includes innovative and trailblazing educational programs, which will enable thousands of disabled children to benefit from them daily.
Kalman Samuels, president and founder of Shalva said that "we started with 4 children and today we provide solutions for more than a thousand special-needs children with world class advanced equipment. I didn't believe the dream would come true."