Our brand new spaces at Jewish for Good mean expanded volunteer opportunities!
Do you love spending time with toddlers and holding babies? Get trained to volunteer in our Early Childhood Learning Center. Do you have a knack for making conversation with older adults, or have a hobby or art talent to share? Our new Adult Day Program at the Norma and Robert Gindes Center will have lots of volunteer opportunities.
Maybe you can throw down in the kitchen with the best of ‘em. We always need volunteers to help prepare sweet treats for the High Holidays, latkes for Hanukkah, and all of the delicacies to be found at the Jewish Food Festival. Or, if you’ve got a green thumb, we can use it tending to the gardens and landscaping across campus.
Additionally, we can always use help throughout the year at various programs and events. Can you lend a hand?
New to volunteering? Join us at an upcoming New Volunteer Orientation: MONDAY OCTOBER 26, 2PM at the Levin JCC
🕎 HANUKKAH IS EARLY THIS YEAR
Sponsor a Family —
Sign Up by Friday October 16
Every year Jewish for Good works with local Jewish families to make their Hanukkah celebrations a little brighter, and we match those families with sponsors like you. Sponsor sign-ups and nominations are both due Friday October 16.
Details and sign-up: jewishforgood.org/sponsor-a-family
📩 Questions? Contact Shoshana: sfunk@jewishforgood.org
Bake Holiday Cookies for the Food Pantry
A great family project! Every year we send holiday cookies to our Sponsor-a-Family recipients and tuck them into Food Pantry bags, so everyone has an extra treat for the holidays.
Here's how it works:
Bake cookies of your choice — one or two dozen, whatever your recipe makes
Separate them into ziplock bags, three to a bag
Drop them off at the Levin JCC, labeled Helping Dept.
We'll keep them in the freezer until the bags go out for delivery.
Drop off any time before Monday November 16.
📩 Contact Jordana for details: jbrown@jewishforgood.org
🍂 COMING THIS FALL
🥫Thanksgiving Food Drive
Drop off in the Weiss Family Lobby by Monday November 16: Help us make Thanksgiving wonderful for our Food Pantry recipients. Drop off non-perishable food and hygiene products in the Weiss Family Lobby to help us feed and care for dozens of local families across four counties.
We're collecting canned cranberry sauce, boxed mashed potatoes, stuffing mix, canned green beans, canned pumpkin, and boxed pumpkin or cornbread mix.
Donating closer to Thanksgiving? A butternut or acorn squash is always welcome.
A great way to get school-age children involved.
🍞 The Great Big Challah Bake
Thursday November 12, 7pm Are you a baker? We need volunteer table captains to walk participants through the process of making challah.
Can't make the night of? Give the baking team a hand assembling ingredient kits during the week of November 9.
📩 Get in touch with Jordana for details: jbrown@jewishforgood.org
SHARE WHAT YOU LOVE 🎨
Share Your Talents with the Adult Day Center
The Adult Day Center is looking for volunteers to share their skills and hobbies. Are you a musician, artist, actor, storyteller, or creative spirit? We'd love to welcome you. Help bring joy and creativity to older adults.
Prior knowledge and experience with individuals living with memory loss preferred.
📩 Contact Jordana for details: jbrown@jewishforgood.org
Better Together
Are you an active older adult who'd enjoy time with young students? Join our monthly intergenerational program with the 4th and 5th grade classes at The Lerner School.
We meet one Wednesday a month, the schedule is set at the start of the year, and we ask volunteers to commit to most sessions.
📩 Reach out to Jordana to learn more: jbrown@jewishforgood.org
Early Childhood
Learning Center
Do you enjoy spending time with little children?
Volunteer at the ECLC to play with toddlers, read stories, help with art projects, and other joyful activities!
A short training session and orientation is required to volunteer at the ECLC. Contact Jordana to learn more jbrown@jewishforgood.org
JEWISH CULTURE
IN THE COMMUNITY
Brighten the season with us! ✨
We are gearing up to share some Passover traditions at senior centers and day programs, and we’re looking for few more volunteers to join us!
We are also planning to bring Judaism education to area staff at day programs who are asking to learn more, to better serve their participants.
Come join this small working group, with flexible hours that we schedule ourselves!
Contact Jordana Brown to learn more: jbrown@jewishforgood.org
Challah/Babka Wrapping
Help is needed to make Shabbat magic with the J Café team.
We need volunteers every week to help wrap our signature loaves of challah and babka for sale.
Sign up for a volunteer slot by clicking here.
FRIENDLY VISITING
Build meaningful connections!
Know an older adult who would appreciate a regular visitor? Our Friendly Visiting Program pairs volunteers with isolated older adults for heartwarming visits and meaningful companionship.
💙 Volunteers are ready to be matched! If you or someone you know could benefit from this program, reach out to Jordana at jbrown@jewishforgood.org
Hebrew Speakers Needed
Are you fluent and able to help in Hebrew classrooms at The Lerner School once a month on select Thursdays?
Turn off your English brains and join us for lunch and joyful Hebrew discussions, as well as other classroom opportunities with our Lerner students.
Able to help? Get in touch with Jordana at jbrown@jewishforgood.org to sign up!
COMMITTEE ENGAGEMENT
We also have many opportunities for people to join different committees, sub-committees, working groups, or task forces.
Let us know what your areas of expertise and interests are, and we’ll match you with the perfect fit.
Ready to begin your volunteer journey?
mitz·vah
Noun, plural mitz·vot: a good deed
Performing at least one mitzvah a day is core to our Jewish values. Doing good is what Jewish for Good is all about. Be part of the good doing and have fun, make new friends, and have an incredible impact on the lives of people across three counties while you do it!
Jewish for Good is located in Durham, NC and and serves the Durham, Orange, and Chatham County community.
Other volunteer opportunities:
B'nai Mitzvah Projects for 'Tweens and Teens
Are you a B’nai Mitzvah student looking for a service project? We have a variety of options for you ranging from doing visits with older adults, running a volunteer project during Mitzvah Day, cooking or baking, and lots of things in between! Complete this short form to get in touch!
Family Mitzvah Fair
Want to do good with your family, teach your children Jewish values, and meet other like-minded families? Join us for our Family Mitzvah Fair! Take part in multiple kid-friendly volunteer projects that help animals, people in need, and the environment, and come together for stories and songs to help kids understand how they can help make the world a better place. Designed for families with a child ages 3-6 along with younger and older siblings. You do not need to be Jewish, a member at the J, or PJ Library family to participate. Check our Events Calendar for our upcoming Family Mitzvah Fairs.
Holiday Volunteering
Hanukkah Sponsor-a-Family
Bring joy and light this Hanukkah to a Jewish family in need! Sign up to participate in our Sponsor-a-Family program. You will be assigned to a family anonymously, buy their presents, and drop them off at the Levin JCC before Hanukkah. Suggested amount per family is $100-$200, but less is just fine too! Don’t have time to do the shopping? We can do it for you after your donation. Support on your own or have your friends participate with you! This is a wonderful volunteer opportunity to do with your family or chavurah.
Contact Shoshana to get involved.
Jewish Holiday Gift Bag Program
Help us pack and deliver festive bags for Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, and Passover.
Many thanks to our 2022 cookie baking volunteers! Check out some example of our Hanukkah bags here and here.
Mitzvah Day
Each year on December 25th our community comes together to do good together for the larger Durham-Chapel Hill area. Over 550 volunteers complete service projects for over 20 organizations. This is an incredible family-friendly event for all! Service projects include everything from park clean-ups to preparing food, and making blankets for those experiencing homelessness to delivering diapers.
Find out all of the details about Mitzvah Day by clicking here!
Passover Cooking and Delivery
Help us cook and deliver Passover food bags to those in need in the community.
Rosh Hashanah Baking and Delivery
Help us bake and deliver Rosh Hashanah food bags to those in need in the community.
Year-Round Volunteer Opportunities
Clerical and Administrative Support
Volunteers are occasionally needed to help make phone calls, stuff envelopes and packets, write thank you notes, file and shred at yearend, and help in the dozens of other little ways that are so important to make our organization run smoothly.
Food Pantry Donation and Deliveries and more
Each month our Food Pantry provides critical items to local families in need. To continue to make this service happen, we rely on donations and support in various ways. Volunteers can help us collect food, sort and bag food, and aid in pick-ups and deliveries. Don’t have time to give? That’s okay! We always need the following most commonly-requested food items and hygiene products, which can be dropped off in the Weiss Family Lobby of the Levin JCC any time during business hours:
canned tuna or chicken
dried pasta
pasta sauce
peanut butter
canned or dried beans
canned vegetables and soup
travel-sized shampoos, conditioners, and body soap
bar soap
toilet paper
mouthwash
toothpaste
paper grocery bags
FACILITIES
Part of what makes our facilities so amazing is how well-cared for it is! Throughout the year we are always looking for helpers who love to clean and organize. Want to lend a hand with our green spaces outdoors? Join us at key times for planting, upkeep, and preparing for winter.
FUNDRAISING
Did you know that philanthropy makes up 1/3 of our annual operating budget? We rely on generous donors to support the good we do each and every day and are always looking for volunteers to help engage folks in this type of support. Everything from preparing mailings to sending thank you notes to assisting with solicitations to coordinating programs or special events are all ways volunteers can help us practice our stewardship with our donors.
HEALTH & WELLNESS CENTER MEMBER ENGAGEMENT
We’ve been voted, for three consecutive years, best gym in Durham County, because of the warmth and welcoming nature of our community. Volunteers help foster that vibe in small groups to call and welcome new members and answer their questions. Give tours at open houses. Assemble membership packets and promotional materials.
J CAFé COOKING CLUB and MORE
Food is an enormous part of Jewish culture and may even be Jewish folks’ love language! Because of that, we always have ongoing weekly challah and babka sorting, labeling, and bagging volunteer opportunities. Our Cooking Club meets approximately every other month to prepare and serve lunch for our Chaverim program. They also cook/prepare food and assemble and distribute holiday gift bags to older adults in our community, often for special events or holidays. For large community-wide events like our annual Hanukkah Fest or Jewish Food Festival, volunteers can assist in making all of bubbe’s favorites. These are great ways to meet new people and give back to the community.
SENIOR OUTREACH
Ensuring older adults in our community are well-connected and cared for is key to our mission. There are many ongoing volunteer opportunities that help ensure this happens.
Friendly Visitors and Callers
Volunteers spend 2-4 hours a month helping run errands or visiting with a senior or homebound person in our community. Volunteers spend time going for a walk, talking about books, or exploring common interests.
Shabbat Outreach
Do you have an hour to spare? Do a mitzvah and volunteer for our Shabbat Outreach program. Shabbat Outreach volunteers lead a short Shabbat service on Friday afternoons for Jewish residents of local long-term care facilities. We provide the challah, juice, service booklets, and other materials. All you bring is yourself! Sign up for as many Fridays as you’d like.
Program Support
We offer a number of core programs that provide opportunities for older adults to engage with one another, from Chaverim to Memory Care Programs. Join us by securing sponsorships for these programs, assisting with set-up and take-down, and being present to schmooze with our participants.
TRANSPORTATION
Getting people to programs and getting supplies and materials to participants is always something we need volunteers for. Have a car? Insured? Help us drop things off and pick folks up as needed.
Contact me!
Jordana Brown, Volunteer Program Manager
Direct: 919-354-4924
Email: jbrown@jewishforgood.org