Making pet toys for dogs in shelters, sewing blankets for cancer patients, replanting roses and organizing a library were just a few of the 30+ service projects that engaged over 1,000 volunteers of all ages during the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center (OFJCC) 2015 Community-Wide Mitzvah Day in Palo Alto January 18th. About half of these projects took place at the OFJCC’s Friedenrich Conference Center, while the rest happened in locations all over the Bay Area, including coastal clean up in Half Moon Bay and classroom refurbishing at the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula.
Mitzvah Day is held each year in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, a day in which Americans across
making a card for military stationed overseas (photo credit: OFJCC)
the country are encouraged to participate in volunteer projects to honor Dr. King’s memory. Dr. King famously said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’“
The OFJCC event has grown every year since it began eight years ago, and the record breaking number of volunteers this year is an indication of how many families in the Palo Alto area are interested in giving back to the community. For Luba Palant, the OFJCC’s Community Engagement Manager, encouraging children to volunteer through events like Mitzvah Day is an urgent need in a place as affluent as Palo Alto.
“Children here- including my own- are so privileged and they don’t realize what life is like for people who aren’t as lucky,” she said. “Our goal with Mitvah Day is to educate kids about why it’s so important to help people who are disadvantaged and to take care of animals, the earth and the environment.”
OFJCC CEO Zack Bodner and Mitzvah Day Director Luba Palant (photo credit: OFJCC)
Luba strives to create volunteer projects that are accessible for families with young children, along with teens, young adults and older people so multiple generations can work together to make a difference. She partners with nonprofits around the Bay to find activities that are suitable for all ages and interests, and can be completed in a discreet amount of time (not an easy task!). The OFJCC promotes Mitzvah Day through PTA’s, school newsletters, Palo Alto Youth Community Service and other organizations, attracting families from Palo Alto and beyond.
To encourage youth leadership in Mitzvah Day, Luba also seeks out youth who want to design and lead their own volunteer projects. This year there were four youth-led community service projects, including one created by Paly senior Chelsea Thangavelu, where volunteers sewed shirts specially designed for patients recovering from open-heart surgery.
Chelsea Thangavelu, leader of a project that sewed shirts for cardiac patients
This year’s Mitzvah Day marked the first time that the event has kicked off with an inspirational speaker, Lawrence King of Edgewood Center in Menlo Park. To help illustrate to the volunteers why their work matters, Lawrence painted a vivid picture of the struggles facing local children and families such as poverty, substance abuse and mental illness.
baking dog treats (photo credit: OFJCC)
With such a huge turnout for 2105, Luba is not sure yet how she can top the event next year but her goal is to use the one-day volunteer experience to build longer term community engagement. “We’d like to have on-going projects emerge from Mitvah Day, so people can continue to give back and learn the Hebrew concept of Tikkun olam, or ‘repairing the world.’
OFJCC’s Mitzvah Day volunteers in action below (all photos courtesy of the OFJCC):
It was a great event! Really well-organized.
Terrific!