A commitment to service is central to the Pozez JCC of Northern Virginia’s volunteer services program for people of all ages.
Beginning in June, Pozez JCC partnered with Repair the World, a Jewish service movement, to create this initiative that aims to make meaningful change through Jewish values, community engagement and programming.
“When developing the Volunteer Services program, it was important to lead with Jewish values,” Emily Braley, the volunteer services manager at Pozez JCC, said in a press release. “We wanted to create something that unites our community while serving our neighbors and the wider world. This program builds on our community’s rich tradition of volunteering.”
She added that the Volunteer Services is an expansion of volunteer opportunities the Pozez JCC has already offered for years, such as its annual Great Big Challah Bake.
Community members can choose from various service opportunities, including sorting clothing donations, making food packs, creating hygiene kits, cleaning Oakton Community Park and making lasagnas for neighbors in need. Pozez JCC offers several of these “one and done” events throughout the month.
Braley said there are also longer-term opportunities for those who want to volunteer in the Pozez JCC’s membership office, fitness center and inclusion department, in addition to “micro-community” buildings and programs.
The program is a response to community members’ interest in social impact work, Braley said. When she began working at Pozez JCC in 2021, Braley managed the volunteer rides program, NV Rides, which provides elderly residents with transportation to appointments and supermarkets. At the time, NV Rides was the JCC’s primary volunteer opportunity.
The Volunteer Services program is now in full swing, with more than 20 one-time volunteer events since its launch in June. The projects each connect to one of the Pozez JCC’s social impact priorities: disability inclusion, addressing food insecurity and homelessness, Israel and combating antisemitism, democracy and social justice, climate change and transportation for the elderly.
These opportunities to serve the local community go beyond solely volunteering.
“We wanted to offer volunteer programs that would bring our community together, so we dreamed up Volunteer Services,” Braley told Washington Jewish Week.
She said this program is unique in that participants can connect with one another through their shared Jewish values and form friendships that they may not otherwise have in a different volunteer setting.
“It’s been really special to see we’re bringing in people who are either connected to the JCC already or looking to be connected to the JCC,” Braley said. “Anybody can volunteer at a food bank, but if you go there, you might not meet people. You might not have anything in common with the folks you meet there. You might be by yourself. But when you volunteer through the JCC, you come with the community.”
She added that in addition to the service project, there are opportunities for Jewish learning, community building, icebreaker activities and conversation: “We make sure people feel like they’re connecting, not just to the project and the nonprofit [organization], but to each other.”
The program connects to Jewish teachings, something Braley learned through her participation in Tzedek: Jewish Service Learning Cohort.
“A lot of times, people embody their Jewish values and their faith in action,” she said. “We know that we have a chance to make a difference, and then [participants] can connect it to Jewish text or Jewish learning. [The connection] makes it more impactful to them and inspires them to serve more.”
Another unique aspect of the program is that it spans generations; toddlers up to seniors attended the Pozez JCC’s Volunteer Services kickoff event in June. Some of the children helped tape boxes closed while adults wrote postcards encouraging citizens to vote in the 2024 election.
“It was really neat to see everyone doing something to their ability … to see everyone coming together to do something that they could do,” Braley said.
Other service events are listed with a specific age bracket, such as the “reverse tashlich” event during Rosh Hashanah; Braley specified that attendees must be at least three years old because part of the tradition involves picking up trash from a riverbed.
“We think of everyone when we’re planning,” Braley said. “We want to make sure that there’s different opportunities for people to serve.”
Resume lam ready to be there