IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNITY
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How to start | Bikur Cholim | Hatzolah | Doctors At Home
Shomrim | Chaverim | Misaskim | Gemachs
All you need to start any of the programs listed below
is 1 or 2 energetic people
who want to improve the community.
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HOW TO START
- Contact a similar program in a large city to hear how they run their organization
- Decide the scope of your program
- ‘Talk up’ the program to your friends & shul members
- Recruit volunteers
- Train your volunteers
- Tap your community’s resources
- Publicize the program so people who need your services will know what you can do for them
- Some of these programs will require contact with people in dire circumstances so you will need to set up a support system for those volunteers
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BIKUR CHOLIM - HELPING THE SICK
A non-profit fully volunteer organization
that helps community members & their families who are
- Hospitalized
- In Nursing Homes
- Home Bound
In addition to visiting the sick, there are a variety of ways to help their families
- Cooking meals
- Driving children to school & home from school
- Taking children to lessons or sports' practice
- Shopping for food
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HATZOLAH - RESCUE
A non-profit fully volunteer emergency medical response organization
that responds to medical emergencies
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Hatzolah members undergo training as EMTs
- Hatzolah will always advise you to call 911 first & then Hatzolah but the majority of the time Hatzolah is there first
- In some cities, Hatzolah has ambulances
For more information on how a Hatzolah organization works
contact Hatzolah in the following cities or countries
- East Coast - New York & Baltimore
- Midwest - Chicago
- Canada - Montreal & Toronto
- Other countries - Belgium, England, Israel,South Africa & Switzerland
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DOCTORS AT HOME
If there is no Hatzolah, doctors who live in your community can fill the gap
by seeing people in their home on Shabbas & Yom Tov
to determine if they
need to go to the Emergency Room
- Sometimes, they can give you a temporary ‘fix’ for urgent vs emergency care (e.g. a cold, cough, but not a heart attack.) so that you won’t have to go to the emergency room until
after Shabbas & Yom Tov - Many doctors stock medicines you’d normally purchase at a pharmacy (Antibiotics, anti-inflammatories braces, bandages, splints, inhalors, asthma medicine, cough medicine,
anti-diarrhea medicine, anti-constipation medicine, first aid care etc.) should you need
them on Shabbas & Yom Tov - In Israel, some of the religious neighborhoods have one person who buys medicine
& stores it in their home. When you need medicine on Shabbas or Yom Tov, you can
get your medicine from this person. After Shabbas or Yom Tov, you take your prescription
to the pharmacy & get it filled. Then you give the medicine to the person who gave you
the medicine on Shabbas or Yom Tov
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SHOMRIM - GUARDS
The Shomrim are volunteer civilians
who patrol their neighborhoods & respond quickly to security situations
- They work closely with the local police force in their community to deter crime
- They are additional ‘eyes & ears’ in their neighborhoods
- This helps the police make more arrests & improve the overall quality of life in their community.
TYPE OF CALLS RECEIVED
- Theft of property
- An assault
- Hit & run accident
- Missing person
- You come home to a back door or window open
- You see a stranger looking into your car windows
- A stranger is approaching your front door or l ooking in your mail box
- A stranger is taking pictures of children, homes or shul
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CHAVERIM - FRIENDS
Volunteers who are willing to assist in times of need such as
- Locked out of your car/home
- Car battery needs a jump start
- Flat tire
- Out of gas
- Help looking for a missing person
- Provide lanterns during a power outage
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MISASKIM
Volunteers who provide equipment & supplies for funerals & shiva homes
FOR THE FUNERAL
- Tent
- Microphones
FOR THE SHIVA HOME
- Low chairs
- Tray tables or low table
- Blankets for knees
- Extra chairs
- Sefer Torah
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GEMACH
The term 'Gemach' translates as 'Acts of Kindness'
In every community there are people in need
& there are many types of Gemachs that can help them
FREE LOANS
This type of Gemach collects donations
& loans the money to needy families with no interest
STORES
This type of Gemach usually has 1 or more storage facility for people in need
- Gather used equipment, furniture, clothes, school supplies,
baby equipment & more from
your community - Seek out a donor who has an unused space even an empty garage will do for a start
- You can set specific hours to the convenience of the volunteers who are there when people come in
- If no space is available then you can find individuals to take on one type of item at their
home possibly storing them in their garage or basement
Items can be borrowed, given away or sold at significantly lower prices
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How to start | Bikur Cholim | Hatzolah | Doctors At Home
Shomrim | Chaverim | Misaskim | Gemachs
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Tomchei Shabbas | Community Alert System
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