My name is Irina, I have a wonderful son who has a disability. I know very well how sometimes additional moral and material help are needed to give the necessary attention to such kids. At some point, I realized that many people's life situations are more difficult than mine. Also, I have an experience that I want to share with others, especially with those who are in dire need of it. Every time I hear "Thank you", I realize that I haven't lived the day in vain. During my volunteering at the Gomel Jewish Volunteer Center, I realized that the team of volunteers is my big family! I never thought that people who have almost nothing in common could come together like this.

I am 42 years old and I am working as an engineer.

My hobbies are knitting, embroidering, making toys, sewing, creating various handmade crafts with children. I hold classes on knitting and embroidery with the middle aged and older people with pleasure (if it is necessary). My volunteer career started with creative activities for children and mothers.

Lokshina Tatyana Evgenyevna, 38 years old, a translator Having arrived from Israel in September, 2014, I have got my friendly family in Hesed «Tikva» where I am always helped and on any question answered «to rise on my legs» in the city in which a lot of things weren’t familiar for me. Precisely, I decided to offer my help in those small affairs, feasible to me, and which are the usual work of the volunteer center. Today, I lead the direction – «Family volunteering». The sense of this direction of the volunteer activity is in the following: the lonely client of a Hesed is consolidated to a family, and we several times a month visit him and whenever possible we help the family. The work of the center is always actual. It is very important to have any support and in difficult life situations to get this support.

Hi all! My name is Mititelu Valentina, I am 16 years old and I am a first-year student at a teacher training college. I learned about the Republican Volunteer Center from my friend and started volunteering almost two years ago. My first project was called "Limba Noastră" where I taught Romanian to children. Participation in this project helped me become more punctual and responsible, as I realized that I have obligations that I should fulfill. In the volunteer movement, I especially like communication with different people, regardless of their age and interests. I love to learn something new and develop, as well as help people and see their smiles after helping. During my participation in the projects, I met a lot of wonderful people and there were many pleasant stories. One of them happened during the delivery of new phones. To old people. We helped them figure it out by explaining how each program worked. It was very interesting to listen to their stories that happened to them throughout their lives, and it's very nice to see smiles and joy on their faces. I understood that our communication was necessary for the elderly, and it brought pleasure to both of us. I am proud of my decision to become a volunteer at the Republican Volunteer Center, and I do not regret my choice at all. Activities at the RVC brought me new knowledge, a large number of interesting acquaintances and vast experience of working with people.

My name is Igor, and in my everyday life, I work as an operator at a water pumping station. But in addition to this responsible profession, I have other interests - mobile photography and literature. Volunteering, for me, is an opportunity to provide assistance to those who truly need it. My first volunteering experience was during the "Autumn Holidays" campaign. During those challenging times when the pandemic had struck, we distributed food packages to elderly people. When you see gratitude in the eyes of those in need, you realize that it's priceless. This gratitude means so much more than any amount of money. I'm glad to be part of this volunteering team. My help and my time can serve a noble cause. Help your neighbor, seek opportunities to make the world better, without seeking personal gain. Because it's moments like these that make our lives more meaningful and fill them with warmth and kindness.

I am a teacher. Today, I am engaged in the production of the purified bottled water. I have got to the Jewish communal center when I began to bring my daughter to the summer camp, a few years ago. I became the volunteer absolutely consciously. I consider that each person wants the heat and kindness, and the volunteers give to the person the chance to feel necessary and to give the heat and attention. And the volunteer, helping people, also feels necessary for the people. I worked as the volunteer in «Mini-Club», being engaged with the children as the teacher, also, I participate in various projects of the community. As the volunteer I take part in the “Kosher-Smack” project devoted to the preservation and promoting of the Jewish cuisine among the younger generation. Volunteering, from my point of view, is a disinterested and voluntary aid where especially people need it. And the volunteer, in his turn has an opportunity to self-actualize through the activity, to embody some his aspirations and requirements through the service to people. I am in the center on the photo.

My name is Yuliana Berkovich. In 2010, I came to the Jewish community center with my eldest son. I began to attend creative circles and actively help in the design of stands and exhibitions. Soon I became a volunteer and started to lead the "Creative Workshop" project in Hesed. Since the summer of 2022, I have been organizing and hosting master classes for children and teenagers at the Jewish Community Center. My youngest son also attends the center's programs. At these workshops, we sew dolls together from various materials, make crafts from leather, felt and yarn. This lesson brings me real pleasure, and the joyful faces of the children convince me that my knowledge and experience are very valuable and useful.

I am a journalist. Listening is an important part of my profession. Listening is also necessary in volunteering, and I started to be a volunteer by making calls to lonely elderly people, and congratulating them on their birthday. Despite the fact that the congratulation was informally and quickly said, I invented every wish individually for everyone. I felt on the other end of the line that wards were happy and smiled a lot during the phone call. And they had a desire to tell a little bit more about themselves.

Then there was created by chance “There is Time” project of the League of Volunteers by EJCC Menorah. This is the project, in which I was completely in. And it seems to me, that I brought it to the highest point. I had various interesting tasks: to come up with what dishes to cook from the Jewish cuisine, arrange everything, find interested residents, held a delicious master class. Is this altruism? Maybe it is. Sharing energy and knowledge is altruistic for sure!

24 years old

Reception document service assistant.

Hobbies: I write poems, prose and I enjoy being photographed.

My volunteer career began when I was at school in 11th grade. My friend and I signed up for an action against extremism and drug trafficking. We walked around ​​the district and made photos of “advertisements” of drugs, smoking mixtures, and various inscriptions such as swastikas, which offend different nationalities. We sent all the information to a police officer.

Later, I was a volunteer in the search and rescue team «Liza Alert» and searched for missing people. I placed announcements about the search, notified the public about the results, and I was also the organizer of the «Memorial Day of the Perished Children» supported by «Lisa Alert».

I wanted to be a volunteer from a Jewish organization, and I learned about the existence of Hesed Ester and the fact that everyone could participate in cleaning the Jewish cemetery. This is very important for me as a Jew, as a member of the community, and it gives me great pleasure to do this activity. There is such a nice and useful action as cleaning the cemetery — thank you so much for it!

Vadim Igorevich Isaev, 41 years old, doctor. Hobby — fishing.

Vadim Igorevich joined the community in June 2016. His first action was shoveling the snow and ice near the community. He also actively participated at the community events, congratulating the elderly members of the community. Vadim Igorevich took part in charitable volunteer actions at the infant home. At the moment, he is organizing and participating in the «Jewish Ural» project.

Vadim takes part in the volunteer movement, following his heart.

His motto: “Do good on Earth, do good for the benefit of others!”

Кuleshova Еugenia Iacovlevna. 28 years old. Advertisement Expert. How did she get to the volunteer center? In 2011 I have finished the leading seminar «Metsuda», the goal of which it was to create my own volunteer project. And since then, the volunteer activities have become an integral part of my life. Now, I can’t imagine my Sunday without Volunteer Center, without my project concerning the work with the teenagers. And even my 10 year old son is involved in a large number of promo events together with me. So, the opening of the Volunteer Center meant for me the only one thing -I’ll soon have a huge number of like-minded people who want to change this world for the better.

Why to be a volunteer? Because this is now the only possible (real and available to everyone) the way to change something around yourself. To make the world better, purer and kinder. Don’t sit and complain but to change, create, improve, and develop. Why is it actual today? For many reasons, actually. Of course because I have already said that only with your own power, desire and love you can change something. Since I mostly work with the teenagers, so, I can name several more specific reasons for them. This is a great way to find real friends. Not those who will be together with you only in social networks, but those who will be tested not only by a word but also by his deeds. This year, it was much talked about that we remember the veterans only on 9 May. So, our guys can proudly say that it isn’t so! I know that our teenagers visit the veterans not only on holidays, but also during the weekdays. It’s nice to be a part of something big and good, and the Volunteer Center is best suited for this.

Having the MD degree in Medicine, she is a radiologist, Fruma Zalimanovna was born in 1929. Despite her not young age, she is full of energy and enthusiasm, which are so necessary in volunteering. Our heroine started her social work in 1946. Fruma Zalimanovna is the Assistant of the Chairman of the Medical Council of the University and a part-time mentor for the student volunteer movement «Milky Way». To the Volunteer Center of the synagogue she was invited in July 2013 as a consultant for the Organization of the Jewish Museum, then she became a principal consultant. Fruma Zalimanovna says that she is engaged in volunteering solely by ”The Call of the Soul”. She is totally sure that it is especially important today, because our society has lost its moral values. Fruma Zalimanovna also manages to write the books in history and in medicine.