STOUGHTON WOMAN WORKS
FOR SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN IN ISRAEL
Liz David-Dembrowsky , a 1990 Gibbons Elementary School grad who got a diploma from Ursuline Academy, is now living in Manhattan, and working for an organization called Keren Or, the Jerusalem Center for Blind Children with Multiple Disabilities. Dembrowsky graduated from Boston University, which she attended on a full scholarship. She did a Master's Degree in writing in England, and is in her final year at Brookyln Law School, which she attends nights.
Dembrowsky, raised in a Christian household (her dad is infamous local attorney and cable TV host Jack Dembrowsky), is on track to convert to Judaism. She tells Snyder’s Stoughton, “I want to convert. I’m 35 and don’t have children yet. I would like my kids to be Jewish. My Rabbi died recently, so I am looking for another to lead me.”
This dynamic woman is also an author. She appeared on Snyder’s Stoughton TV show to talk about her book “My Monk” about three years ago. At the time, she was dating a Romanian liver surgeon. She is now married to him, and he is still trying to secure a residency in America, so he can begin practicing medicine here.
She was working for the Jewish Federation, when she heard of the work Keren Or was doing with children with multiple physical and mental issues. “They take the most difficult kids,” she told me, “There are blind autistic children in wheelchairs, and others with no where else to go.”
The staffing is a 2-1 ratio of staff to students, and the program is also accepting disabled adults, as well. “It’s so expensive to run. There’s just not enough money to fund the program.” So, Dembrowsky took on the role of raising the much-needed funds to keep the Israeli place going. She runs into anti-Israel and anti-Semitic people all the time. “I don’t understand how they can feel that way about a program that helps children that no one else wants to help. This program literally saves parents, and their marriages.”
She is now the Executive Director of Keren OR, and tells me that one parent told her, “We know our children won’t be doctors or lawyers. We just hope our daughter will remember who she is.” Liz saw the need right away and researched the organization and the program. “I saw that 93% of all money raised goes to the programs for the children. It rated four stars on Charity Navigator. I met with the Board and was hired last February. I traveled to Israel last June and met with therapists, teachers and staff. We all have the same goals for the children and adults in the program—we want each to reach their own potential.”
Dembrowsky came back to Stoughton Monday night for a fundraiser at Jake’s Wayback Burgers. The Lopes family donated 20% of all purchases that night to Keren OR, Inc.
High in the hills of Ramot, overlooking the city of Jerusalem, sits Keren Or. Recognized as a pioneer in the field of visual impairment and multiple disability when it was established over 30 years ago, Keren Or is the only center of its kind in the world under Jewish auspices devoted to the care, rehabilitation, and education of blind, multiple-disabled children and young adults.
To donate, go to keren-or.org. To reach Liz, email Elizabeth@keren-or.org.
(Story and photos by Mark Snyder)
Top Photo: (L to R) Brenda Doucette, Liz Dembrowsky holding Simon Doucette. Ben and Nick Bouchard (in orange), Harry Doucette and Brandon Doucette.
Bottom Photo: (L to R) Hank and Gloria Herbowy, Jack and Louise Dembrowsky, and Jane Rotondo
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