In Pictures: Holocaust survivors meet parliamentarians ahead of Mitzvah Day
Members of Jewish Care's Holocaust Survivors Centre meet with MPs and Lords in Westminster, before the annual day of social action
Members of Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre were on-hand to teach a selection of MPs and peers a thing or two about social action, at a Westminster event ahead of Mitzvah Day 2017.
The survivors and Jewish refugees met parliamentarians from all different political parties at an event three weeks before charity’s annual day of volunteering, on Sunday 19 November, when 40,000 people will participate throughout the country.
Among the 22 MPs there to hear the HSC members’ stories were Cat Smith, Mike Freer, Sir Peter Bottomley and Stephen Pound, attending with representatives from the Board of Deputies and the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews.
Mitzvah Day founder Laura Marks said it was “all about people giving their time, rather than their money, to make a difference to the community around them,” adding: “A big part of that is spending time with older people.”
Marks was joined by Mitzvah Day’s Interfaith Chair Daniela Pears and Executive Director Dan Rickman, as well as Board chief executive Gillian Merron, who said: “This launch event celebrated the very best of Jewish, interfaith and intergenerational social action, as well as our commitment to remember the past.”
Mike Freer, Conservative MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said: “Mitzvah Day is a great opportunities for communities to get together and give something back to society. Sadly there is suffering all over the UK, and the world, and this is all about giving time, not money to help those in difficult circumstances.”
Photos by Yakir Zur:
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- Alex Sobel MP, Fabian Hamilton MP, Holocaust survivors and former Leeds students Credit: Yakir Zur
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- David Amess MP – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Ian Austin MP with survivors – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Fabian Hamilton MP – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Hilary Benn MP – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Karen Lee MP with Laura Marks, Gillian Merron and Holocaust survivors – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Joanna Cherry MP – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Youth Volunteers with a survivor – picture by Yakir Zur
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- John Cryer MP – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP, Fabian Hamilton MP and Steve McCabe MP
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- Mike Freer MP. – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Mike Freer MP and Andrew Percy MP – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Youth Volunteers with survivor – picture by Yakir Zur
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- Robert Neil MP, Steve Reed MP, Dan Rickman, Catherine West MP, Stephen Pound MP and Laura Marks
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