(Courtesy of Bonei Olam) Infertility, the diagnosis on its own, is hard enough to handle. It’s difficult, it’s challenging, but there is hope. Recent decades have seen a virtual explosion in the field of fertility treatments. Thanks to the miraculous breakthroughs of modern science and medicine, those who wouldn’t have stood a chance years ago of becoming parents now have viable options. However, the overwhelming financial burden related to fertility treatments frequently discourages patients from pursuing appropriate fertility care.

The fact is that the cost of a single advanced treatment for one couple averages between $15,000 and $35,000. Most couples must undergo multiple treatment cycles before they achieve success. The costs are astronomical! Insurance companies rarely cover these expenses, and many couples spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on treatments and medications before they are blessed with a child. To add to this heavy burden, for many couples these treatments are necessary for each pregnancy they wish to achieve. Even for a financially secure couple, this is a staggering strain. Simply stated, many couples’ quest for children, for their future, is halted because of lack of funds.

Due to the sensitive nature of infertility, most couples hesitate to share their problems with parents and friends. Even in the rare cases where couples do open their hearts to loved ones, there is hardly anything their loved ones can do. They cannot assist with financial costs, they cannot guide couples through the labyrinth of treatments and doctors, and more painfully, they cannot lessen their emotional burden.

That is where Bonei Olam steps in.

Bonei Olam is a non-for-profit organization renowned for providing financial support to childless couples enduring the agony of infertility.

Bonei Olam offers a variety of programs to assist with various forms of infertility including:

• Fertility Assistance: Financing for specialists in a vast array of fields related to infertility and genetics.
• Advanced Genetic Testing and Research: Funding to help identify and prevent genetic-related issues that are not detectable through premarital screening.
• Fertility Medication: Funding for fertility medications and drugs.
• Insurance Coverage and Advocacy: Insurance policies for couples, facilitating the journey from infertility to parenthood.
• High-Risk Pregnancy Care: Assistance with high-risk care as a continuation of its coverage of fertility-related treatments.
• Global Medical Network: Bonei Olam has built a broad network of leading medical professionals from around the world in fields relating to every aspect of infertility.
• Bonei Olam Without Borders: Medical team performing extensive fertility treatments in Israel a few times a year.
• Counselor Support: For couples experiencing infertility, they must navigate medical options, treatments, and their personal emotions and privacy.
• Secondary Infertility: Bonei Olam is there for every couple experiencing infertility, be it primary or secondary.
• Uterine Transplant Surgery: Bonei Olam celebrated the historic first uterus transplant birth in the frum community.
• Cancer Fertility Preservation: Financing for the necessary procedures prior to cancer treatments in order to ensure a future.
• Your World Tomorrow: Bonei Olam is assisting single women with the egg retrieval process.
• Kesher: Bonei Olam hosts a database of Jewish singles with unique circumstances including physical, emotional, medical and genetic conditions and helps them deal with the most complex issues of shidduchim.

Bonei Olam was created by a group of forward-thinking individuals who themselves were dealing with fertility issues and understood the heavy financial and emotional burden associated with the struggle. They believed a lack of funds should not keep other couples from realizing their dreams of raising a family of their own. Their efforts have resulted in an internationally recognized organization that has been featured in numerous newspapers, magazines and medical journals. The impressive results yielded by Bonei Olam speak for themselves.

The groundbreaking programs and services offered by Bonei Olam have allowed thousands of couples to successfully overcome obstacles resulting in infertility. As a direct result of Bonei Olam’s revolutionary programs detailed below, with God’s help, over 11,000 precious babies have been born.

It is the simple goal of Bonei Olam to never allow the absence of funds to deprive couples of their chance to build a family of their own.

The organization is well known and every day its roster of applicants grows. Today, in almost all cases these families can be helped through Bonei Olam’s excellent contacts with leading infertility centers at major hospitals. There is a staff of counselors available to guide couples through the various options open to them.

Each couple is given every option possible to have a healthy child of their own. Bonei Olam knows all too well the statistics, the possibilities and the probabilities, yet couples are granted opportunity after costly opportunity without ever being asked to repay or even donate to the cost. Payments for doctor appointments, specialists, pharmacy invoices, hospital bills and second opinions are all funded by Bonei Olam, so that couples can focus on their treatment without the anxiety about finances.

Except for its minimal office staff, the entire operation is run and managed by volunteers. Virtually every dollar raised is directly applied to medical help. More importantly, these dollars work. To date, Bonei Olam has helped bring over 11,000 new babies into the world, providing joy, fulfillment and a sense of restored purpose and serenity to thousands of couples around the globe. And these precious babies provide a most heartfelt realization to those that are not yet blessed with a child of their own that miracles do happen!

Please join us and show your support for the Bonei Olam Riverdale/Westchester chapter. The chapter event will iyH take place this Thursday, May 4, at the Riverdale Jewish Center, 3700 Independence Ave, Bronx at 8 p.m. Program highlights will include an address by Rabbi Schlomo Bochner, founder of Bonei Olam, and the personal stories of two local couples assisted by Bonei Olam. Artisanal pizza by Aqua E Grano, Sushi donated by Riverdale Kosher Market, Wine tasting by Skyview and Fresh doughnuts and churros by Party Stem. All monies raised at this event will be distributed exclusively to couples in need of Bonei Olam’s services in the Riverdale/Westchester communities. Your support will have a dramatic impact on the lives of local childless couples.

To RSVP for the event, go to www.boneiolam.org/riverdale