A member of a Teaneck kollel is hoping to drum up financial support in order to run a fun-filled, week-long summer getaway for a group of young men with special needs.

Dovi Denciger has spent several years volunteering and working with young people with special needs. The 13th of 16 children in his own family, Denciger was born in Belgium but grew up in Cleveland in a home where giving wholeheartedly to others was always the name of the game.

“Our house was open on all four sides and there were always people coming in and out,” Denciger told The Jewish Link. “Our doors were never locked and if someone came in at 3 a.m. my mother would get up and cook them a gourmet meal. I can’t take any credit for any time I spend volunteering because that is just how my parents raised me.”

Denciger, a full-time yeshiva student at Yeshiva Bais Mordechai, in Teaneck, said that working with those who have special needs has completely changed his life.

“Sitting and learning the whole day seems a little empty if you aren’t going to go out of your way to help others whenever you can,” observed Denciger. “When I have a chance to do something for someone else, to me it feels almost selfish because, really, you get so much more than you give.”

Denciger had his first real hands-on experience with a child with special needs when his rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Eliyahu Roberts, asked him to accompany his own son who has Down Syndrome to summer camp in Milford, Pennsylvania, several years ago. The summer was a positive experience for everyone, and Rabbi Roberts’ next request involved helping a teen with physical disabilities named Yehuda Schwartz*, who lived in Teaneck. Recruiting a friend to join him, Denciger jumped on board and in addition to getting Yehuda to Shacharis every morning, he and Yehuda cultivated a warm friendship.

As Yehuda got older and aged out of Camp Simcha, Denciger was saddened by the notion that his friend no longer had an opportunity for a memorable summer getaway. Drawing on his creativity and resourcefulness, Denciger raised upwards of $10,000 for Yehuda and planned a week-long escape for him in Florida in the summer of 2016.

Wolf’s mother said that she was blown away by the kindness that Denciger showed her son.

“He single-handedly raised the money to take Yehuda on the trip, taking another young man along so that the two could give my son as much as he needed,” said Mrs. Wolf. “They took him to a beautiful hotel with an ocean view, to amusement parks, to a special mall that Yehuda had wanted to see and barbequed delicious food for him. In short, Dovi, one of the most kind-hearted and compassionate young men I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, gave Yehuda the time of his life.”

Denciger recalled the trip as an amazing experience.

“We got to meet Michael Jordan’s son, who signed autographs for Yehuda and gave him shoes,” said Denciger. “One day we visited a friend who had a pool in Miami and when I tried to get Yehuda out of the pool he told me that it had been four years since he was last able to walk, but in the water, he felt like he was in control again. He stayed in the water for four hours.”

His return to Teaneck had Denciger wondering if perhaps he had found his calling.

“There are no summer programs for guys like Yehuda,” explained Denciger. “I had been trying to find something that I could do, something that nobody else was doing yet. I wanted to find a bunch of guys and pick a week where no one was in the hospital and let them choose anyplace in the United States and show them a really good time.”

Denciger’s own marriage last summer put the kibosh on any trips for 2017, but understanding that there are always circumstances that arise, he set his sights on arranging a mini late-summer vacation for a group of young men with special needs, refusing to let even the birth of his own daughter in mid-July stand in his way.

“There is always going to be something that comes up,” said Denciger. “After last year I realized that there could be no excuses. I had to step up for these kids.”

Denciger dubbed his project “The Getaway” and hopes that it will offer both the young men on his trip and their parents a break from the often difficult realities of their day-to-day lives. While he looks forward to the day when he can get a large group of yeshiva bochurim to join him for a bein hazmanim road trip for individuals with special needs, for now he is setting his sights on a more modest plan: a week-long vacation for approximately 15 to 20 young men plus a staff of about a dozen volunteers in a tri-state area, wheelchair-accessible mansion with a pool, with five-star food, entertainment, music, a game room and more. Denciger, who is working with the Lakewood-based Misameach on this project, is tentatively planning The Getaway for August 1 and the only stumbling block currently standing in his way is coming up with $65,000 to fund the project.

“I have run shabbatons for 350 people for my father, who is a rabbi, every year, taking care of every detail from A to Z,” said Denciger. “Once I have the money in place, I am completely on adrenaline and don’t even need to sleep. I can literally pull this project together in 48 hours as soon as I put the money together.”

Denciger is counting on the kindness of the Jewish community to get The Getaway off the ground, confident that it will be an amazing experience for the young men who will be joining him.

“My heart goes out to these kids and their parents who are faced with tremendous challenges every day of their lives,” said Denciger. “I want to show them a fabulous time, with good kosher fun because there is no one who is doing anything for these guys and I know that it will make a huge difference in their lives.”

To contribute to The Getaway visit them online at The Chesed Fund: https://thechesedfund.com/cause/the-getaway

*Names changed in the interest of privacy.

ADDITIONAL NOTE FROM DOVI DENCIGER 

By Sandy Eller

Sandy Eller is a freelance writer who writes for numerous websites, newspapers, magazines and many private clients. She can be contacted at [email protected].