Charles Pollick

ALYN Hospital was established in 1932 by Dr. Henry Keller, an American orthopedist who dedicated his life to voluntary work with physically challenged children in Jerusalem.

A polio epidemic in Israel in the 1940s and 1950s infected and compromised the ability of many children. To house the growing need of the ensuing emergency situation, the Ministry of Health provided ALYN Hospital with a monastery previously belonging to the St. Simon Orthodox Church to usd as a hospital. In this space ALYN provided medical and educational help to approximately 200 children with polio. However, the monastery building was not well-suited for housing a developing rehabilitation center.

In 1971, thanks to matching funds generously donated by Malcolm and Dorothy Woldenberg, the ALYN Woldenberg Family Hospital, a modern hospital and rehabilitation facility in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood of Jerusalem, opened its doors.

ALYN Hospital is one of the world’s leading pediatric rehabilitation facilities.ALYN exponentially improves in the quality of life of children with diverse disabilities, whether congenital or acquired, by providing tools that increase their independence and mobility while living at home and in their community.

ALYN provides a wide range of innovative, best-in-class treatments and services for out-patient care, in-patient care and R&D.ALYN Hospital is an officially registered non-profit facility as only a portion of every child’s care is reimbursed by the Israeli Health Funds or other referring agencies.

Consequently, the hospital must raise funds through donations to bridge the financial gap between reimbursement and the actual costs of the high-level multidisciplinary rehabilitation services which are provided to all children.

This year's ride is dedicated to Yakir Hexter z"l  who was a soldier serving in the Combat Engineers. He fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip on January 8, 2024.Yakir was a runner, cyclist, and volunteer in the community - in the past, he participated in the ALYN Wheels of Love ride as a one day rider and also ran the Jerusalem Marathon for ALYN.He was registered to participate with his father Josh in the 2023 Wheels of Love ride.As the war broke out on October 7, the ride was cancelled. Instead of riding with his father, Yakir was called up in the Army. I am riding in memory of Yakir Hexter z"l  who was a soldier serving in the Combat Engineers. He fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip on January 8.

Yakir was a runner, cyclist, and volunteer in the community - in the past, he participated in the ALYN Wheels of Love ride as a one day rider and also ran the Jerusalem Marathon for ALYN.

ALYN Hospital is the only rehabilitation center for children and adolescents in Israel and one of the leading facilities in the world. ALYN Hospital specializes in diagnosing and rehabilitating children coping with a wide variety of congenital and acquired physical disabilities