The vast majority of those who support Sinai Schools, both by attending the annual dinner and by yearly donations, are not themselves parents of Sinai students. They are members of our community who are merely witness to the immense benefit of the schools’ work, both for their own families and for themselves.

The financial burden on Sinai Schools parents, $57,500 for in-state yearly tuition, makes dinner attendance prohibitive. Very few Sinai families can afford full tuition and many receive some form of tuition help, and that’s where the annual dinner comes in.

Our community is home to some of the best and brightest Jewish organizations in the country, but one of our most enduring stars is Sinai. In operation since 1982, Sinai Schools’ campuses are now strategically placed in five locations, including several local schools where many of us are associated; RYNJ for day school students, and the high schools TABC and Ma’ayanot. Here, the partner school classes are able to include Sinai students in some parts of the education process. The benefit of this is twofold. First, the Sinai student benefits from being included, or mainstreamed, into an environment where he or she is with peers, and has the opportunity for social development in school, and second, the regular day school or high school students become aware of the importance of accepting a myriad of differences in others, be they physical, developmental or learning disabled.

Sinai’s 122 students each have an individual program built for them, with all of his or her needs in mind, using a collaborative therapeutic model. Sinai schools serve students with wide array of disabilities, some visible such as physical or developmental, and some that are hidden, such as processing or language disorders. The ratio of staff to students is one to two.

In honor of its 32nd year, which corresponds to the word lev in Hebrew, meaning heart, Sinai has chosen to honor those at their annual dinner who have a special heartfelt connection to the school and its programs.

The Jewish Link of Bergen County joins Sinai Schools in asking each member of our community to give from your heart. Give to Sinai. Visit http://www.sinaischools.org/dinner.

The annual dinner is Sunday evening, February 9th, 2014, at the Marriott Glenpointe in Teaneck.