400 ‘microvolunteers’ set new record at Yoni Jesner Awards

More than 400 volunteers set a new record for the largest Jewish ‘microvolunteering’ event at the Yoni Jesner Awards last week.

Microvolunteering involves small acts that only take a few minutes but can make a huge difference. Tasks, which were all completed within 10 minutes, included making 100 origami cranes for the charity Cranes for Cancer and writing postcards to Israeli soldiers whose lives have been affected by conflict for One Family UK.

JVN director Leonie Lewis said: “We made history by assembling the largest number of people to simultaneously undertake tasks. Even very small acts that only take a few minutes can make a huge difference to the lives of others. This fits so well with the core values of the Yoni Jesner Awards and the JVN.”

Guests of honour at the Camden Centre included Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Mayor of Camden, Councillor Lazzaro Pietragnoli, and Marsha Gladstone, Yoni’s mother and the director of the Yoni Jesner Foundation.

Almost 200 Jewish students from across the country were honoured for their volunteering efforts on the night.