{"id":4112,"date":"2017-07-06T11:31:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T15:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/?p=4112"},"modified":"2017-07-06T11:31:33","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T15:31:33","slug":"volunteering-what-the-kids-have-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/volunteering-what-the-kids-have-discovered\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteering: What the Kids Have Discovered"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ipad\"<\/a>
Volunteering offers so much more satisfaction!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some say that the new generation is steeped in materialism and can\u2019t see past their ipod screens. Is it true? A recent event in Israel honoring junior volunteers<\/strong> yielded some surprises.<\/p>\n

Last summer, M, a sixth grader, noticed something strange going on in her neighbor\u2019s home. \u201cThere are two children living there, and I understood that their mother had cancer<\/strong>. She was undergoing treatments, and some of the time, was even hospitalized. And those kids were home alone.\u201d M. decided to help<\/strong>. She invited the kids to her house, which turned into a regular practice. \u201cThey come every day after school, eat lunch, do their homework with me and play games. They go home only when a relative arrives to be with them.\u201d M. didn\u2019t see anything extraordinary about what she had been doing but the organizers at the event thought differently and she was singled out for an award.<\/p>\n

S joined M on stage also unsure of why she was there.\u00a0 \u201cWe have an elderly neighbor with no children or family, and also, almost no money. I think that he doesn\u2019t always even have what to eat. I come to him almost every day with food, sit with him a bit and speak to him. It\u2019s just regular. Anyone would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"lk<\/a>
Volunteering in preparing meals for families dealing with serious illness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many of these children have discovered Ezer Mizion as the place where there is always a need for chessed<\/strong>. Z has been volunteering<\/strong> <\/a>for Ezer Mizion since she was seven years old. She just walked in to Ezer Mizion and asked to volunteer<\/strong>. \u201cThey didn\u2019t understand what I wanted. After all, I was just a little kid. They smiled and gave me a few jobs, thinking I\u2019d soon get tired and go home.\u00a0 It\u2019s been five years since then, and I\u2019m still there. Twice a week (\u201cBefore Yom Tov, every day, and during vacation, all day\u201d)<\/p>\n

I come straight from school, put down my book bag in a corner, and get to work. I arrange meal trays<\/a>, pack up vegetables, and give food to anyone who comes with a note. Sometimes, I go to the preschools and pick up non-perishable leftovers from lunch. Sometimes, I deliver food packages to people\u2019s homes, and other times, I make order in the storeroom, depending on what needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you ever feel that your <\/strong>volunteering comes at the expense of other fun things, like music or art lessons, or spending time with friends?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"lk<\/a>
A volunteer delivers a meal to a mother sitting at the bedside of her ill child<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt gives me a good feeling to volunteer<\/strong>, and I also enjoy it. If I have a lesson or club, or if I make up to meet with a friend, I go there after I finish at Ezer Mizion. Before Yom Tov, I was there every day and I helped pack up food packages. I think that helping people who are in need is more important than all the other stuff. It also makes you feel good, in your heart. It leaves you with a taste for more.\u00a0\u00a0 I am the youngest volunteer they\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

D has found a different venue for helping others. One can\u2019t help noticing her lovely hair. That hair is now on several other heads in addition to hers. D is grateful for her beautiful hair and feels it\u2019s proper to \u2018give back\u2019 by donating it to Ezer Mizion. \u201cWhen I was five, I saw a picture of a girl who was bald. My mother explained to me that the girl is sick and that part of the treatment for her illness made her hair fall out. To me, that was awful, and I knew that I wanted to help. I said I would give her some of my hair. It\u2019s funny. Usually little kids have ideas that don\u2019t really make much sense. Little did I know that my idea about giving my hair was a real possibility and done by many people. My mother said that I was too small. She assumed I\u2019d forget about it. But I couldn\u2019t. Every time I thought of that girl being so embarrassed walking around with no hair, I wanted to help. Finally, when I got to second grade, my mother agreed.<\/p>\n

Did you have any regrets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNo. I knew that I had plenty of hair and that it would grow back. I actually waited for my hair to grow in enough so that I could donate it again. This year, my braid reached the right length, so I went to have it cut and donated it. I had a lot of hair this time. They might even be able to make two wigs from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.relates that the day of her haircut was a happy day for her, \u201cbecause it meant that there would be a girl somewhere who would look in the mirror and forget about her sickness, at least for a few minutes. I try to convince my friends to donate to Ezer Mizion, too, even though each one of them loves her hair and finds it really hard to part with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"pr<\/a>
The joys of volunteering<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The stage was soon filled with youngsters who had discovered what many adults do not know. What do you think? Will Ezer Mizion have any problem filling its volunteer<\/strong> slots next generation?<\/p>\n

Join the family by supporting Ezer Mizion!<\/a><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some say that the new generation is steeped in materialism and can\u2019t see past their ipod screens. Is it true? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,166],"tags":[4,840,246,841,7,9,25,839],"class_list":["post-4112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ezer-mizion","category-volunteer-2","tag-cancer","tag-chesed","tag-chessed","tag-hesed","tag-israel","tag-jewish","tag-volunteer","tag-volunteering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4112"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4116,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4112\/revisions\/4116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}