Social Action/ Tikun Olam Chapter Program Suggestions
Table of Contents
Fleece Hats for Children
| Mitzvah Cards
| Challah Bake
| Planting Trees in Israel
| Allocate to Israel
| Greeting Cards
| Buy Israeli Products
| Trivia
| Building A Better Future
| Mitzvah Clowing1. Fleece Hats for Children. For this program, the chapter would be making fleece hats to donate to children in hospitals to have during the winter season. Each chapter member can make as many as possible in the time they have, and then as a chapter, they can visit the hospital and bring them to the children.
Materials needed for each hat:
Tape measure
1/2 yard fleece fabric
Scissors
Needle and thread
Buttons, appliqués, or felt pieces for decoration
1 yard decorative cord
Procedure:
A. First, determine the size of the hat. (To avoid ruining the
surprise, measure the head of someone who is similar in size to the
recipient.) Now cut a piece of fleece that is 16 inches wide and as
long as the measurement you took plus 2 inches.
B. Fold the fleece in half, right side in so the 16-inch edges match
up. Sew a 1/2-inch-wide seam along this edge, stopping 5 inches from
the bottom (see A). Just below the last stitch, make a 1/2-inch cut in
from the side. Turn the material right side out. Now sew a seam along
the last 5 inches of unsown fleece.
C. Roll the bottom of the hat up two turns, so the cuff conceals the
bottom part of the seam. To keep the cuff from unrolling, sew on a
decorative button, an appliqué, or a felt cutout.
D. Finally, gather the top 3 inches of the hat and tie a colorful cord
around it.
Mitzvah Cards- It is a game of thinking! What you do is make cards that each have one word on it (such as clown or pasta etc.) and then have a bigger card that says "MITZVAH." Bring these cards to your chapter and have them sit in a circle- going around the circle, ask each person of one SA/TO related program that they can come up with using their word and Mitzvah attached to it. This is an intense thinking program and is ideal for getting your mind set on SA/TO. The purpose is to show USYers that they can find inspiration for a mitzvah in anything, they just have to look hard enough.
Challah Bake- Set one meeting a month aside to get together and bake challahs for Shabbat and the holidays and sell them to the congregants. The fact that they were made with love from USYers will make them a hot buy. Take pre-orders to know how many to bake. All proceeds, of course, go to Tikun Olam!
Planting Trees in Israel- There are many ways for USY to plant trees in Israel. At the end of each chapter event you can make sure you have collected $18 so for each event you can plant a tree. The Jewish National Fund plants trees across Israel and in addition, runs a program called "Plant Your Way To Israel" where Jewish teenagers sell trees for Israel. Half of the money donated goes to plant trees and the other half funds a scholarship in their name to go to Israel. For more information, check out www.jnf.org. If you are interested in planting a tree then contact your local Jewish National Fund office.
Allocate to Israel- Every chapter has the opportunity to choose where their Tikun Olam money is allocated. An easy way to turn any T.O. project into a SATO Israeli Style project is to allocate the monies raised to one of the Israeli tzedakot.
Greeting Cards- Chayamiriam Taurog makes handmade greeting cards for new baby, wedding, engagement, holiday greetings, birthday, b'nei mitzvah, graduation and sympathy. The cost is $10.00 per card and proceeds go to Yad Eliezer, an organization that provides food baskets and other assistance to the most destitute people in Israel. Contact her at 972-661-9482 or chayamiriam@yahoo.com.
Buy Israeli Products- It is important for us, as American Jews to support our family in Israel financially. Check out some of these websites to purchase products. www.israelexport.org, www.shopinisrael.com, www.israeliproducts.com
Trivia Prep: Make posters with facts and pictures about different cities in Israel including specific facts like population, famous places and people, etc. Then come up with questions on each city based on the posters. Other Materials: A list of charities in israel, Something to write on.
When attendees arrive, instruct them to form pairs or groups of three for larger groups. Tell them they have _______ time (1-3 minutes per poster) to look at the posters and learn about Israel on their own.
At the end of the time, have them sit in their groups so the trivia can begin.
All participants will be asked a question for which they will write a response on the pad/paper provided. Each correct answer will earn a point. Each wrong answer costs a dollar(cost can be more or less depending on size of group).
At the end of the night, the team with the most points may decide which charity in Israel gets the money from the wrong answers. Planting a tree on USY's hill 16 is a very high recomendation.
Building A Better Future: Purchase packs of legos to sell for T.O. Then have the USYers take these legos and then build things that can then be donated to a local children's hospital. This program can also be done in two parts: just the T.O. aspect or just the SA aspect.
Mitzvah Clowning: Bring in a trained Mitzvah Clown to do a clowning course for your chapter and then after everyone is trained go to a Nursing Home to cheer up the old folks. Also, do mini crafts projects so you can have trinkets to give to the residents. Contact your regional SATO VP for more information and about how to get in contact with a Mitzvah Clown to train your chapter.
