What We Do

• Kosher Mobile Meals (KMM ), our flagship project, supplies daily meals to 150 Jewish recipients around Johannesburg. These meals, packed and delivered by volunteers twice a week, are made possible by donations and major fundraising initiatives.
• Our weekly Friendship Club Lunch on Wednesdays, brings together lonely, destitute and elderly Jewish people for a scrumptious lunch, entertainment and tea at our house in Oak St, Houghton. Volunteers fetch and return the guests, many of whom savour this outing as their only contact with the outside world. Once a month we hold a birthday lunch during which candles on a large birthday cake are lit and then blown out by those celebrating a birthday during that month.
• Bobba/Zaida of the Year is a competition we run annually. The most deserving entrant wins a trip overseas to visit immediate family.
• The Naomi Project provides disadvantaged Jewish children requiring some kind of therapy with pro bono services, through the extreme generosity of professionals in the Jewish community. These services include psychological and educational assessments, speech and hearing assessments and therapy, occupational assessments and therapy, physiotherapy, homework tutoring and supervision, and even medical attention.
• Our Genetic Diseases Awareness Programme aims to create an awareness amongst girls in Grade 12 of the various genetic diseases that exist in the Ashkenazi Jewish community. Professor Amanda Krause and her team from the Genetic Counselling Clinic educate the girls about the various diseases and inform them of testing procedures. An enthusiastic positive response has been received from the Jewish day schools.
• Through our LEnding Of Rehabilitative Appliances (LEORA) Project, we loan out walkers, wheelchairs, crutches and other equipment on a temporary basis for up to a maximum of three months, at a refundable deposit.
• If you are seeking intellectual stimulation, our Adult Education Division runs a thought-provoking lecture series on current affairs and cultural matters throughout the year on Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• Garden and interior décor enthusiasts discover fresh ideas during monthly visits to magnificent homes and gardens in Johannesburg, arranged by the House and Garden Circle.
• We raise money for the CSO and Hatzolah through our various fundraising activities, and also for Hospice by printing an annual calendar.
• The children from Arcadia and the Johannesburg Children’s Home always enjoy the birthday cakes we supply on a regular basis.
• In December each year we express our gratitude to the police force by providing cakes to a number of police stations around Johannesburg.
• We support child- and granny- headed families from Soweto with monthly food parcels and clothing.
• We are assisting in setting up a library at Pimville Primary School in Soweto.
• Comfort parcels, cleansing packs and clothing are provided to rape survivors and abused children at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital’s medico-legal clinic, Thembisa’s Masakhane Crisis Centre and Hillbrow’s medico-legal clinic. The cleansing packs consist of soap, a face cloth, shampoo and body lotion, and clothing is supplied because the survivors’ own clothing is often removed for forensic purposes and they are given only a blanket for the journey home. Prior to Christmas, commencing in November, we collect and distribute comfort packs containing soft toys and sweets to abused and vulnerable children at these clinics.
• Our soup kitchen in Hillbrow has been expanded to include patients at the HIV/AIDS and TB clinics as well as the labour ward.
• We have formed a relationship with a women’s group from the Lutheran Church in Alexandra and earlier this year were involved in an enormous clothing initiative where clothing was sorted and distributed to recipients in both our organisations. We hope to collaborate on future projects.

From time to time we have ad hoc projects in response to specific needs in severely under-resourced crèches and even secondary schools.

As you can see, our projects are many and varied, so there are many opportunities for volunteers!