Euroasian Jewish News

YAHAD Fuels FSU Volunteering

Over 600 Jewish young adults across the FSU will run about 35 volunteer projects this Chanukah as part of a “Good Deeds Week” introduced by FJC’s YAHAD platform.

Initiated last year, the week is part of a larger project called GIVE, which aims to raise awareness and importance of volunteering as a cornerstone of society among Jewish youth.

“We want to see volunteering and overall mutual help and care become treasured values among the younger generations in our Jewish communities,” said Ms. Miri Mayorova YAHAD’s projects coordinator. “GIVE helps us find the activists really interested in volunteering and give them the necessary skills to move forward, to find their much-needed place in the communities,” she said.

After last year’s Good Deeds week, 50 of the most active GIVE participants were invited to a motivational seminar in Moscow at the end of August. At the seminar, the young people met with a variety of volunteer organizations to learn more about their activities, work scope and impact.

Furthermore, ten most motivated activists gathered last week in Moscow for a training seminar, where they developed their own unique social projects, which they will now take home to implement. Four of the projects also got YAHAD’s mini-grant support for a head start.

“GIVE is a unique volunteering initiative that rolls with the times – it speaks the language of today’s youth and gives them the opportunities to apply themselves in ways they find meaningful and significant while benefiting the region’s Jewish communities,” said Rabbi Mendy Wilansky, YAHAD’s director.

Last week the project won at a Moscow social initiatives competition run by governmental and higher education agencies.

FJC