At North West, we believe that part of our remit as educators is to help the children become “Global Citizens” and a “Light unto the Nations”.
There is a Chesed Committee of children from year 6 who meet regularly with the Chesed Co-ordinator to discuss charity and good deeds in the school.
The focus for the money collected weekly on a Friday is decided by the children and the co-ordinator together. The children are asked to research a charity of their choice and to speak about it for two minutes to the rest of the committee and the co-ordinator after which a vote is taken. The charities supported are changed on a regular basis and collections for major disasters are made when necessary. The regular collections may be for a Jewish charity based in the UK, Israel or other Jewish community in need, or for a non-Jewish charity helping people across the globe.
Charities supported by the school in the past range from Great Ormond Street Hospital to the Schneider’s Medical Centre in Israel to buying Goats for Ghana and sponsoring a child in Rwanda. During the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, a match was screened live on a big screen in the Hall and the children donated money to Ikamva Labantu, a charity which helps relieve poverty in South Africa showing the children that amidst the glamour of football, there can also be poverty.
The current focus is Crisis, the charity for single homeless people. The teachers devote time during lessons to bring the chosen charity and its aims into the classroom so that the Tzedaka is not collected in a vacuum.
We will be holding a grand fundraising event during Schools’ Sports week showing more cross-curricular links.
Last term, we collected over £3000 for Camp Kef as well as holding a Mufti Day to raise funds for the brand new Jewish Autism Trust
The main Chesed event in the Autumn term is Mitzvah Day, a day when the Jewish community volunteers for the benefit of the Jewish and wider communities. The projects are chosen by the co-ordinator for their relevance to the school community.
North West is proud that their Mitzvah Day 2009 won the Jewish Chronicle award for the best Mitzvah Day anywhere in the UK when the children collected winter clothing for the Jews of the Ukraine and converted t-shirts into operating gowns as part of the Blue Peter Appeal 2009 supporting the charity Operation Smile.
North West is proud of its record of helping others.
Mrs Ruth Finkel
Chesed Co-ordinator.
For more information about the projects we support, click on the links in the text above.