Project Spotlight: Purim Activities with the Elderly

The Fellowship  |  March 18, 2019

In preparation for the Jewish holiday of Purim, which begins this Wednesday at sundown, The Fellowship organized activities for participants in our With Dignity and Fellowship program. Hundreds of Fellowship volunteers visited and brought cheer and holiday gift baskets to 100 elderly in Ashkelon, an Israeli city on the Mediterranean coast.

Purim is celebrated among Jews by exchanging reciprocal gifts of food and drink; donating charity to the poor; eating a celebratory meal; public readings of the biblical book of Esther; and reciting additions to the daily prayers and the grace after meals.

At the homes of the elderly, the volunteers sang, danced, and made the day pleasant for the elderly. Some of the volunteers were so moved by the visits, that they agreed to continue volunteering and visiting these elderly throughout the year.

In the city of Akko, The Fellowship organized for local seventh and ninth grade students, along with their teachers, to prepare food gifts, make phone calls, and deliver the gifts to the homes of 50 elderly in the area.

An elderly homebound woman named Mara, who is a former school teacher and a Holocaust survivor, told a volunteer: “It’s a great joy to see the volunteers who made us happy and gave us a chance to enjoy the Purim holiday and feel like we’re young again. We were happy to see the volunteers who care about us and who haven’t forgotten us.”