The “Gift Room” in Ruth Rappaport Children's Hospital, maintains a large supply of toys, games, and gifts are for the facility’s patients. This project is supported by the donations of many dedicated partners and friends.
Mika Riboyat and her parents, Keren-or and Raanan Riboyat. Photography: Rambam HCC
Nine-year-old Mika Riboyat and her classmates in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Motzkin have a tradition when it comes to birthdays. At birthday parties, instead of bringing gifts, each child brings the same agreed upon amount of money, and the child whose birthday it is can then purchase whatever they like.
Mika, however, had another idea in mind. Instead of spending all of the birthday money she received on a gift, she told her parents, Keren-or and Raanan Riboyat, that she wanted use some of the funds to purchase toys for children receiving cancer treatment in the Joan & Sanford Weill Division of Pediatric Hematology – Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation in Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital at Rambam Health Care Campus.
Keren-or and Raanan were incredibly touched by Mika’s unexpected, heartfelt initiative – so much so that they told their daughter they were prepared to match whatever amount she chose to donate. Together, they used the money to buy gifts for the Gifts Room in the Children's Hospital, including games, puzzles, and more.
Mika recently visited the Children’s Hospital with her parents in order to deliver the gifts. The family assumed they would simply drop of the items and go, and were not expecting the ceremony that awaited them, which included presenting Mika with a certificate of appreciation and a photographer taking photos of the event. “We were very moved that you chose to honor Mika in this way. She was very excited by the attention,” said Keren-or, who added that Mika is planning to bring her certificate and some of the photos to school in order to share them with her classmates.
