At the beginning of May, Matthew, a twelve year old boy who is celebrating his Bar Mitzvah this October, came up with the idea to collect 1,800 pair of socks to donate to homeless people all over Toronto. He chose that number because in Judaism the number 18 represents chai, or life, and he wanted [...]

Yesterday, standing in line at the supermarket, I helped the people in front of me pay their bill as they were short of cash. They actually were removing groceries that they wanted to buy from their bags so they could get down to the amount of cash they had available. – Arieh Have you witnessed [...]

For the last 5 years, there has been a shelf in my kitchen cupboard labeled “Food Bank Shelf” and whenever I shop for groceries, I try to pick up an item or two to add to the shelf. I try to mix and match (ie: pasta and a can/jar of sauce, peanut butter and jam [...]

City of Beit Shemesh 1 Av 5770 Hazon Yeshayah and Ve’Ahavta Canada Greetings: RE: A Special Thank You It is our privilege to express to your organizations our most heartfelt appreciation for the very important project “Backpack for every Child”.  Because of this blessed initiative many disadvantaged students will be able to begin the new [...]

Today Ron Maclean spoke to our students and some board members, at the Veahavta Street Academy (VSA). He spoke for two hours drawing upon stories from his humble beginnings, the 26 Stanley Cups he has covered, the Olympics he has attended and his close relationship with Don Cherry. He told us about the affect Victor [...]

I was walking with my daughter in her stroller when I heard a dull, loud thud on the road just ahead of us. I looked up to see that a car had turned left into oncoming traffic and had struck another vehicle. The damage looked to be superficial but both drivers were very shaken. They [...]

Read the article online: Ex-addict puts poverty behind her by Laurie Monsebraaten, Social Justice Reporter, The Toronto Star Click here to download the PDF.

Ve’ahavta sent two volunteers, Drs. Lee Ann and Tsvi Gallant, on a mission to Haiti run by the Jewish Renaissance Medical Corps. The following is an excerpt from a trip diary by Dr. Alona Yacobovsky, physical therapist and YAD Social Co-Chair, who flew with the medical team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As one of the members [...]

Ve’ahavta sent two volunteers, Drs. Lee Ann and Tsvi Gallant, on a mission to Haiti run by the Jewish Renaissance Medical Corps. The following is an excerpt from a trip diary by Dr. Alona Yacobovsky, physical therapist and YAD Social Co-Chair, who flew with the medical team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I think the services we [...]

Ve’ahavta sent two volunteers, Drs. Lee Ann and Tsvi Gallant, on a mission to Haiti run by the Jewish Renaissance Medical Corps. The following is an excerpt from a trip diary by Dr. Alona Yacobovsky, physical therapist and YAD Social Co-Chair, who flew with the medical team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I am so frustrated by [...]

Ve’ahavta sent two volunteers, Drs. Lee Ann and Tsvi Gallant, on a mission to Haiti run by the Jewish Renaissance Medical Corps. The following is an excerpt from a trip diary by Dr. Alona Yacobovsky, physical therapist and YAD Social Co-Chair, who flew with the medical team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Throughout our travels around Port-au-Prince, [...]

Ve’ahavta sent two volunteers, Drs. Lee Ann and Tsvi Gallant, on a mission to Haiti run by the Jewish Renaissance Medical Corps. The following is an excerpt from a trip diary by Dr. Alona Yacobovsky, physical therapist and YAD Social Co-Chair, who flew with the medical team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. After the busy day at [...]

Ve’ahavta sent two volunteers, Drs. Lee Ann and Tsvi Gallant, on a mission to Haiti run by the Jewish Renaissance Medical Corps. The following is an excerpt from a trip diary by Dr. Alona Yacobovsky, physical therapist and YAD Social Co-Chair, who flew with the medical team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. One interesting thing that we [...]

Ve’ahavta sent two volunteers, Drs. Lee Ann and Tsvi Gallant, on a mission to Haiti run by the Jewish Renaissance Medical Corps. The following is an excerpt from a trip diary by Dr. Alona Yacobovsky, physical therapist and YAD Social Co-Chair, who flew with the medical team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. We would be spending the [...]

The barbecue dinner was fantastic. It was the biggest turnout Ve’ahavta has had since we started doing the dinners. We had well over 120 people to serve. Jack Stern and his family and friends were absolutely amazing. Jack insisted on doing the barbecuing and he had a blast (albeit he was VERY exhausted after cooking [...]

So – there’s this homeless guy in need of size 10 1/2 shoes because his are falling apart and wouldn’tcha know that some Ve’ahavta employee went to Value Village and found a pair of runners in that size. Needless to say, Big John is a happy fella. – Terri, posted via Facebook * * * [...]

While I was in Israel recently, I fell ill with sunstroke. For 24 hours I was pretty uncomfortable and as you know being away from home, and being sick, is not pleasant. I was staying in a three-star hotel where they did not have room service. Ugh! When the front desk got word I was [...]

This week I want to tell you about a remarkable man. He is extremely intelligent, and remarkably evolved. He is one of our clients, and he lives in a park. His name is Sid. For the longest time, Sid would only have brief interaction with me. Then, about 6 months into my employment with Ve’ahavta, [...]

Ve’ahavta Israel is proud to announce the landing and distribution of Kinder Kits in our Homeland, Israel. This past Wednesday morning Avrum and Kirill, who were in Israel at the time, received word that the 3,000 Kinder Kits would be made available to hand out to impoverished children living across Israel through our partners, Hazon [...]

When I went to Canadian Blood Services yesterday, I thought I would be donating just platelets (#103) but they needed plasma, so what the heck, what’s a few more blood cells when the body just makes ‘em up again within 24 hours. – Terri, posted via Facebook * * * An Archive of Goodness on [...]

I was outside on garbage day trying to move two green bins, a large garbage bin and three yard waste containers up to the side of the house. I had a two-year-old in tow and was trying to keep her away from the road while keeping an eye on the newborn that was fussing in [...]

Our goal is to gather 1000 acts of tikun olam by the end of the year. In the long run we hope to set a world record of one million. How you can help: Have you witnessed a good or healing act that you would like to share? Please add a comment below to post [...]

An Archive of Goodness is memory book of valuable Tikun Olam experiences that will be a constant reminder of our ability to do goodness as a reflection of human kind. Ve’ahavta’s bloggers have taken up the challenge of archiving goodness, kindness, and healing the world and will reflect on what this means to them. We [...]

By: Janet Phelan Winner: The Pen to Paper Prize At daybreak In the time of enormous suffering I awake to the soft staccato Of rain on the roof. It has been raining now For several months. Why Doesn’t someone do something About it? I fix myself a breakfast Of genetically modified stewed prunes With a [...]