What a difference a day can make

By Ariella Leaffer

On Sunday morning, July 17, 100 Jewish young adults came together for the first ever Day of Volunteering (DOVsf), rolling up their sleeves to make San Francisco more beautiful than ever.  We spent the morning repainting Christopher Playground with the Neighborhood Parks Council, serving food at St. Vincent de Paul and St. Anthony’s, restoring the natural habitat of the Presidio with the Golden Gate Parks Conservancy, and participating in the AIDS Walk. After working hard, getting sweaty, and having fun, we all met up for lunch at Jillian's Billiards Club and enjoyed some well-earned relaxation.

Here’s what some of the volunteers have to say:

“I signed up for DOV because I like volunteering but don’t always put the effort into finding opportunities. I also liked that all the young adult groups that I participate in were coming together for one big day!” “

I really enjoyed our activity [painting the playground] because I felt like we were doing something productive and it was fun because we were able to talk to each other while we were doing it. The park staff was very appreciative and made us understand the importance of the work.”

“The group of volunteers in the Presidio spent the day removing non-native and invasive plants from the area...[which] required use of shovels and pick axes - definitely sweat breaking work! There were many new faces and people got to know each other through hard/dirty work.”

DOVsf was a partnership between the Young Adult Division of the Jewish Community Federation, Birthright Israel NEXT, and Temple Emanu-el’s Young Adult Community (YAC). We plan on doing this again next year so stay tuned! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy some pictures from the day: