Season for Giving a Rousing Success

“If it weren’t for the Jewish community, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” a local children’s hospital professional told Federation’s Jewish Volunteer Center Director at the end of a Season for Giving event this week. Throughout December, more than 400 volunteers joined in the 17th Annual Season for Giving, choosing from hands-on activities that included serving lunch and distributing gifts at the Salvation Army and helping Ronald McDonald House guests create comfort bears. Volunteers also packed toys for children at Lotus House women’s shelter, shared Chanukah stories at secular Miami-Dade elementary schools and assembled Chanukah care packages for residents of senior homes. During the inaugural Good Deeds Day Festival on December 15, South Dade second graders put together 100 supplemental meal bags for hungry families and 250+ North Dade volunteers made uplifting videos for Israeli soldiers, assembled breakfast cups for Holocaust Survivors and created bedtime bags for vulnerable children. “We can’t get volunteers on Christmas Eve,” said the children’s hospital professional. “I want you to know how much we appreciate you every year.”