By, Sandy Rashty
1 min read
BySandy Rashty, Sandy Rashty
Members of the community have rallied to support a mother-of-three who launched a fundraising campaign to allow her son, who has Asperger syndrome, to go on an Israel tour.
Single mother Janine Greyman, 42, launched the online campaign to pay for a support worker to join her son Ryan Isaacs on tour with youth movement FZY.
She said that, without a specialist worker, Ryan, a 16-year-old student at JCoss, would not be able to fulfil his dream of visiting Israel.
Since the JC covered her story last week, Ms Greyman said £2,300 of the £3,000 needed to pay for the specialist had been donated to the campaign.
Members of the community, including Colin Lester, who manages R&B artist Craig David, have promised to raise the rest.
However, the JC understands that the obstacle standing in the way of Ryan making the trip in July is finding the right support worker rather than lack of funding.
Ms Greyman, from Barnet, north London, said she first raised the issue with FZY in January and that a decision was long overdue.
In response, Joel Jacobs, executive director of FZY, said: "I want to be clear that, in cases of tour applicants with additional needs, FZY's first priority is always to fully explore whether we can meet the child's needs on tour. Then and only then do we take finances into account.
"There are many factors we have to consider, including medical, insurance, legal and the provision of qualified support, and it may take time to provide parents/guardians with an answer; but we do liaise with all families in this situation so that they are up to date.
"Over the last eight years, FZY has accepted over 3,500 tour applicants, including all those with additional needs.
"On the point about funds being raised, FZY is always happy to hear that kind members of our community want to donate towards the cost of Israel tour.
"However, we want to make clear that funding is available in cases where we have confirmed that the applicant's specific needs can reasonably be met."
