Our campaign is now complete. 25 supporters helped us raise £1,361.00
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Organised by East London and Essex Liberal SynagogueFor this year's High Holy Day Appeal, the money raised will be split equally three ways between MIND, Dror Eshbal and to help out our own community at East London and Essex Liberal Synagogue.
Closed 22/12/2021
The campaign has now expired but it's not too late to support this charity.
Visit the charity's profileYou can read about the two charities that our appeal is supporting below, as well as about ELELS.
Both charities were chosen in the light of recent events.
MIND was selected based on the acute need in society for mental health support that has been highlighted and exacerbated through the pandemic. Dror Eshbal was chosen following the most recent tensions in Israel this year. They provide programmes that work hard to build peaceful coexistence and cooperation between Jews and Arabs in Israel, as well as improving the situation in areas experiencing economic and social challenges and more. Their umbella organisation, Dror Israel, gave a talk at ELELS in the weeks before lockdown.
Read more below.
Mind is a mental health charity in England and Wales. Founded in 1946 as the National Association for Mental Health (NAMH), it celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016.
Mind offers information and advice to people with mental health problems and lobbies government and local authorities on their behalf. It also works to raise public awareness and understanding of issues relating to mental health.[2] Since 1982, it has awarded an annual prize for "Book of the Year" having to do with mental health, in addition to three other prizes. Since 2008 Mind has hosted the annual Mind Media Awards, celebrating the best portrayals and reporting of mental health across the media.
132 local Mind associations (independent, affiliated charities) provide services such as supported housing, floating support schemes, care homes, drop-in centres and self-help support groups.
Every year, one in four of us will experience a mental health problem. But hundreds of thousands of people are still struggling. We believe no one should have to face a mental health problem alone. We'll listen, give you support and advice, and fight your corner.
A community of educators, changing lives.
Dror Eshbal is an educational kibbutz in the Galil region of Israel. Ninety trained educators share purpose and resources in this thriving center of living and learning. They work in schools and community centers on the periphery throughout the Galil region in Northern Israel to improve communities facing social and economic challenges, help to build co-existence and cooperation between Jews and Arabs, and serve Israel's most troubled youth at risk who have struggled in all other educational and welfare settings.
The programmes offered by Dror Eshbal include the following:
-Eshbal Shared Society Center for Co-existence serves Jewish, Arab, and Bedouin communities, educating youth through multi-cultural experiences
-Dror Eshbal Boarding School serves Israel's most troubled youth at risk
-Youth Movement (Misgav Branch) activities in this mixed region teach leadership skills and democratic values to Jewish and Arab teens to help build bridges and work toward shared society.
-Humanity, Society, and Nature High School offers project-based learning, with unique tracks in photography and therapeutic horse and dog training for youth at risk
-Network of schools - pre-school to high school offers dialogue and values-based, hands-on education to hundreds of children ages 2-18
-Camping Center with environmental educational programming welcomes thousands from all over the world, to participate in team building activities and explore the history of the Galil Region
Demand for Dror Eshbals services is skyrocketing. Unfortunately, our current facilities are at capacity, and each year we turn away hundreds of young graduates and educators who want to help build shared society through education. With every educator we lose, Israel loses more - the opportunity to change the future for thousands of young people.
Money raised from our appeal will support the expansion of Kibbutz Eshbal, helping to fund two buildings for new teams of educators. This will help them to build their capacity to carry out their educational mission.
We are a Liberal Synagogue community of nearly 600 members of all ages located across East (and North) London, Essex and the surrounding counties. During the past year we have continued to build our range of online activities from religious services to education classes, social events as well as building our pastoral offer. Our new Chesed Team has been active, overseeing our Care Team, establishing mentor support for our phone network, and working on imporoving our capacity for bereavement support. We have also upgraded our communications, launching our new website and weekly email while continuing to reach out to those not on email through Keep in Touch and monthly newsletters.
We will continue to work tirelessly to adapt and find creative solutions as the situation evolves and we emerge from restrictions. Although our return to prayer in the synagogue building is gradual, we have already held our first trial "hybrid services" with people both in the sanctuary and participating online, and over the coming months we are looking to build our capcity to provide spiritual and inclusive service experiences for people, whether attending in person, or on Zoom.
We plan to build on our work in 5782, committing to further enhancing the support that we provide for our members. We couldn't do this without the wonderful involvement of our volunteers, but finances are also a factor and so your generous donations can make a real difference. Thank you, in advance and Shana tovah.
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