This year, I am hoping for hay and sponsors

PRESCRIPTION GLASSES for someone who cannot afford them; food for a therapy horse, or a Shabbat meal for a struggling family. This year, you could put one of these on your Chanukah gift list, with MyIsrael. Using the charity’s MyChanukahGift website, families put material presents aside for one night and buy charitable ones instead. At mychanukahgift.myshopify.com, you have a choice of eight gifts. Your loved one is sent a card, explaining what you have chosen in their honour, plus a surprise just for them.

Five-year-old Eliana is featured on the “hay for a therapy horse” card. She lives with severe anxiety but since attending Intra (Israel’s therapeutic riding school), she has developed a close bond with her horse and overcome many of her fears. Intra is one of 18 life-changing charities you can support via Myisrael.

Another way to help charities is through the Eight-Night Challenge created by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. It encourages people to host fundraising events in aid of the hospital’s play team and can provide materials, collection buckets, banners and more to help. Games are part of the Chanukah fun, but play is even more important when a child is seriously ill. The Gosh play team helps children work through any worries they have about being in hospital. The appeal is supported by Kieran Sorkin, a Gosh patient, and his family.

When Kieran was in hospital, “One member of the play team spent hours with him, building something with him and keeping him distracted from the pain medication button and the drip in his arm,” says David Sorkin, Kieran’s father. It takes £647 to pay for everything a play team member needs for a week, including toys and training.

Get started on the challenge at gosh. org/chanukah or donate at justgiving. com/campaign/goshchanukah