IMPROVE
YOUR COMMUNITY
How to start |
Bikur Cholim | Hatzolah
Doctors
At Home |
Shomrim | Chaverim | Misaskim
Gemachs | Tomchei Shabbas | Community Alert System
All you need to start any of the programs listed below
is 1 or 2 energetic people
who want to improve the community.
HOW TO START
- Contact a similar program in a large city to hear how they run their organization
- Decide the scope of your program
- ‘Talk up’ the program to your friends & shul members
- Recruit volunteers
- Train your volunteers
- Tap your community’s resources
- Publicize the program so people who need your services will know what you can do for them
- Some of these programs will require contact with people in dire circumstances so you will need to set up a support system for those volunteers
BIKUR CHOLIM
HELPING THE SICK
A non profit fully volunteer organization that helps community members & their families who are
- Hospitalized
- In Nursing Homes
- Home Bound
In addition to visiting the sick,
there are a variety of ways to help their families
- Cooking meals
- Driving children to school & home from school
- Taking children to lessons or sports' practice
- Shopping for food
HATZOLAH
RESCUE
A non-profit fully volunteer emergency
medical response organization
that responds to medical emergencies
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Hatzolah members undergo training as EMTs
- Hatzolah will always advise you to call 911 first & then
Hatzolah but the majority of the time Hatzolah is there first - In some cities, Hatzolah has ambulances.
For more information on how a Hatzolah organization works contact Hatzolah in the following cities or countries
- East Coast - New York & Baltimore
- Midwest - Chicago
- Canada - Montreal & Toronto
- Other countries - Belgium, England, Israel,South Africa & Switzerland
DOCTORS
AT HOME
If there is no Hatzolah
doctors can fill the gap
by seeing people in their home
on Shabbas & Yom Tov
to determine if they
need to go to the Emergency Room
- They can give you a temporary ‘fix’ for
urgent vs emergency care (e.g. a cold, cough, but not a heart attack.) so that you won’t have to go to the emergency room until after Shabbas
& Yom Tov - These doctors stock medicines you’d normally purchase at a pharmacy (Antibiotics, anti-inflammatories braces, bandages, splints, inhalors, asthma medicine, cough medicine,
anti-diarrhea medicine, anti-constipation medicine, first aid care etc.) should you need them on Shabbas & Yom Tov
SHOMRIM
GUARDS
Volunteer civilians
who patrol their neighborhoods
& respond quickly to security situations
- They work closely with the local police force in their community to deter crime
- They are additional ‘eyes & ears’ in their neighborhoods
- This helps the police make more arrests & improve the overall quality of life in their community.
TYPE OF CALLS RECEIVED
- Theft of property
- An assault
- Hit & run accident
- Missing person
- You come home to a back door or window open
- You see a stranger looking into your car windows
- A stranger is approaching your front door or l
ooking in your mail box - A stranger is taking pictures of children, homes or shul
CHAVERIM
FRIENDS
Volunteers who are willing to assist
in times of need such as
- Locked out of your car/home
- Car battery needs a jump start
- Flat tire
- Out of gas
- Help looking for a missing person
- Provide lanterns during a power outage
MISASKIM
Volunteers who provide equipment & supplies
for funerals & shiva homesFOR THE FUNERAL
- Tent
- Microphones
SHIVA HOME
- Low chairs
- Tray tables or low table
- Blankets for knees
- Extra chairs
- Sefer Torah
GEMACH
The term 'Gemach' translates as
'Acts of Kindness'
In every community there are people in need
& there are many types of Gemachs that can help them
FREE LOANS
This type of Gemach collects donations
& loans the money to needy families
with no interest
STORES
This type of Gemach is usually one or more
storage facilities of items for
people in need
Items can be borrowed, simply given away
or sold at significantly lower prices
- Gather used equipment, furniture, clothes, school supplies,
baby equipment & more from your community - Seek out a donor who has an unused space even an empty garage will do for a start
- You can set specific hours to the convenience of the
volunteers who are there when people come in - If no space is available then you can find individuals to take on one item at their home Someone can do baby equipment & someone else can do clothing, etc
TOMCHEI SHABBAS
SHABBAS SUPPORTERS
This is a Shabbas & Yom Tov food
distribution center
People who are in dire financial straits sign up for a Thursday night deliver of Shabbas &/or Yom Tov foods
- Seek out a donor who has an unused space even an empty garage will do for a start
- Solicit food donations from Kosher stores, Kosher bakeries & chain stores that carry kosher food
- Solicit monies from community members or hold fund raising events to raise the money to buy the foods
- The minimum goal is to try to obtain foods for Shabbas & Yom Tov
- Other foods that can sustain a family during the
week can
also be donated - Publicize the Tomchei Shabbas organization
- Set up a system for people to sign up for deliveries & have
give you a reference either a Rabbi or friend who will vouch
for their circumstances
Everything is anonymous from then onward
- All week long food is delivered to the staging area
- Volunteers organize the foods
- Volunteers arrive at the warehouse or garage at the appointed time around 6pm because by that time of the day more people are available to volunteer
- They team up in groups of 2 - 4 people depending on how
many volunteers show up. - Each group takes care of one list which may have 2, 3 or 4 families on it
- How much of each product the family should get has been determined by the family size
- The volunteers pick up the food products from the stacks in the staging area & place them in the boxes labeled with each family's code name
- A group of volunteer drivers show up & each is given a route
of 2, 3 or 4 families. - The boxes are left on the front porch or in the hallway of an apartment
- The families are expecting the delivery & are usually able to bring it inside their home as soon as the driver leaves
COMMUNITY
ALERT SYSTEM
When there’s a cluster of neighborhoods
or small cities near each other
It is difficult to find out about
Funerals & Shiva Information
in a timely fashion
Even if there is a ‘community’
weekly, bi-weekly or monthly Jewish newspaper
you still need a way to find out
this kind of information as soon as it is known
- You only need one person to volunteer
- They can receive the information by phone or e-mail
- They put the important data onto an e-mail
- The e-mail goes out to the community e-mail list
- The newsletter can grow by adding engagements, births,
& announcements about community events but don't let it grow too big or else the volunteer who does it may be overwhelmed
How to start | Bikur Cholim | Hatzolah
Doctors
At Home | Shomrim | Chaverim | Misaskim
Gemachs | Tomchei Shabbas | Community Alert System
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