30,000 people spread Mitzvah Day magic nationwide
Mitzvah Days were also held in 40 other countries, with 100 organisations and 15,000 volunteers involved.
A record number of volunteers took part in Mitzvah Day this year. Some 30,000 people took part in group and solo projects held by 500 organisations in shuls, churches, gurdwaras and mosques – the first event on such a scale in three years due to the pandemic.
Mitzvah Days were also held in 40 other countries, with another 100 organisations and 15,000 volunteers involved.
Projects this year included Middlesex University Interfaith Network and Barnet Multi Faith Forum planting snowdrops at St Mary’s Church, Hendon, to remember victims of the Holocaust. Members of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Greek Orthodox faiths all took part.
Students from Nottingham University J-Soc, supported by the UJS, came together with Nottingham Chabad to prepare a meal to be distributed at Salaam Shalom Kitchen – a joint Jewish/Muslim project that provides food and warmth to local people in need.
Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu volunteers in Lincoln met each other for the first time – going to the university’s peace garden to clear leaves and plant 1,000 bulbs. Richard Dale, president of Lincolnshire Jewish Community said: “It’s been wonderful to do something constructive, but equally wonderful to get to know each other.”
One thousand school children, teachers and members of faith groups across Borehamwood and Elstree engaged in a mass flower-planting project, coordinated by food poverty charity Gratitude and Garden in a Roll. In total, more than 3,000 bulbs were planted at venues across the region.
Among the participating organisations were St Michael and All Angels Church (CoE), Borehamwood Islamic Society, Hare Krishna Temple – Bhaktivedanta Manor, Yavneh College, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Kenilworth Primary School, Saffron Green Primary School, Borehamwood & Elstree Synagogue and The Liberal Synagogue Elstree.
Councillor Debbie Morris, chair of Three Rivers District Council, opened a huge Mitzvah Day at Northwood United Synagogue where activities included collections for JGift, Langdon College and Chabad Krakow, which supports Jewish and non-Jewish Ukrainian refugees.
Mitzvah Day chair Laura Marks and CEO Stuart Diamond hailed “the immense impact of communities working together and building a more caring and connected society.”
The Chief Rabbi visited Jewish teen volunteer hub Project ImpACT and said: “When you give selflessly to others, you make a positive impact on their lives and also on your own”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Mitzvah Day “helps to foster a wonderful community spirit, celebrating diversity of faith or belief, and demonstrating that we each have a responsibility to one another.”
Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party and a long-term Mitzvah Day supporter joined South Hampstead shul to collect and pack clothes for people in need. He said the social action day is “emblematic of the country we are, and the values we hold.”
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