Volume 7, Issue 10 / Tishrei 5765 / October 2004

Learning the Language of Volunteerism:
Transforming Funding into Long-Term Community Involvement

Scholarships awarded to student olim upon completion of the community volunteering program.

"It seems that every shekel we invested was worth ten times that amount!" says Paul Rosen, former chair of the Israel Overseas Committee of the United Jewish Community of Broward County, Florida. "The program was absolutely visionary," he adds. "And most important, the partnership with the Jewish Agency has been outstanding!"

Rosen was referring to an innovative community volunteering program launched by the Jewish Agency's Aba Houshi Absorption Center in Haifa, in conjunction with the United Jewish Community of Broward County.

The impetus for the program came after a visit to Aba Houshi last year, by Gordon Deckelbaum, President of the United Jewish Community and Gary Siepser, former Executive Director. The center provides some 300 young adults, ages 18-24, who made aliyah on their own, with their first home in Israel. Over two-thirds are from the former Soviet Union, one-fifth are Ethiopians, and the rest hail from dozens of countries throughout the world. All are studying at colleges and universities in the Haifa area.

The visitors were so impressed with the commitment of the young residents and their potential to contribute to the State of Israel that they resolved to make a direct gift to enhance their quality of life - and at the same time facilitate their absorption into Israeli society. After consulting with Benny Rom, the Director of Aba Houshi, and with the students themselves, they decided to establish a computer room. The state-of-the-art facility with 20 computer stations has become the virtual nerve center of the residence! Dozens of students congregate there every evening. Computer access helps inestimably with their studies, and enables them maintain email contact with family and friends in their countries of origin.

In addition, the Florida group decided to establish scholarships to help defray the students' rent at the absorption center. Although the rental fee is admittedly low -- around $1000 a year -- even this nominal amount can be difficult for young adults on their own in a new country, struggling to keep up with their studies in a language they have just learned.

But Benny Rom had reservations. "I didn't want the students to become accustomed to getting something for nothing," he says. His insistence that scholarship recipients give back to the community has created a program that can serve as a model of philanthropy - generating a synergy that transforms the act of funding into long-term community involvement. Rom initiated an intensive nine-month community leadership course administered by the Adler Institute at Aba Houshi. Forty-five young adults completed the course; overcoming language barriers, they learned about different aspects of the non-profit sector and volunteering. At the same time, the students volunteered in community frameworks, each according to his or her individual interest: working with the elderly, youth-at-risk, at youth clubs, as a big brother or sister, or in other programs. Furthermore, the regular reports they wrote documenting their progress served as a basis for raising the level of professionalism.

At a recent ceremony in Haifa at which the second installation of the scholarships was distributed, Paul Rosen had the highest praise for the program, which received a prize in excellence from the Municipality of Haifa. "I am tremendously impressed with the results of the program and the way it has been managed," he says with great pride. "To have a 29,000 shekel surplus with full accounting, and to have such wonderful students represented, with such a positive connection between them and their teachers . . . I spent most of the ceremony with tears in my eyes out of pride in what we accomplished together."

Written by: Shifra Paikin

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