We ask our volunteers from the Mobile Jewish Response to the Homeless (MJRH) van to share their experiences with us. The questions are designed to help focus their thoughts and feeling about their time on the van. Q: What brought you to seek out this particular experience? Living in the suburbs, I often feel disconnected [...]

When I look at the supply of food in Canada and think about the food that goes to waste I ask myself – how do we let people go hungry in this country?  How do we live with this on conscience?  I thought Canada was  developed country.  The G20 Summit that was just held here [...]

Inside an IDP Camp. The children after receiving the kinder kits have returned home and are outside their home playing and telling others about their wonderful gifts.  At the corner of their house are the kinder kits hung on the wall Happy children displaying their gifts. Timothy’s legs have paralysis below the knees.  With the wheelchair [...]

I took this picture from a moving van. The girl was running home to show her siblings what a wonderful gift she had received from Veahavta.  I imagined what her feelings were and concluded that she was carrying valuable instruments in her kinder kit which would transform her life into a professional to care for her community.  [...]

Ve’ahavta is in Jerusalem this week joining 19 organizations strategizing on Jewish volunteerism and the approach to modern Zionism, and exploring volunteer opportunities offered through Masa Israel Journey. With young adults’ growing interest in international volunteer opportunities, Masa Israel, a joint project of the Government of Israel and the Jewish Agency for Israel, is making [...]

The Kinder Kits finally were cleared through Kenyan customs by the Israeli Embassy one and a half weeks after we arrived. We were so happy this day finally came. The boxes were stored for one day at the Nairobi Synagogue and then picked up by Marafiki in a lorry for delivery to the many schools, [...]

Hello Sarah, I am now in Amsterdam on my way back. Everything worked well in Kenya; I feel very proud for the great effort my team put in assisting the marginalized families in Kenya.  I am also very happy with the Marafiki team for their great effort in helping us accomplish our mission.  Let me [...]

Congratulations to the winners of our Kinder Kit Challenge: Matthew & Aviva Gottlieb from Toronto! Thank you for your support. To date our challenge has raised $24,000 which will distribute over 1,300 Kinder Kits! Click here to read more about this event. Our exciting eBay items are receiving a lot of attention! Check them out [...]

Ve’ahavta is proud to announce that this year’s Tikun Olam Awards Ceremony, Starry Nights were attended by over 750 people on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts. The event featured keynote speaker Sir Bob Geldof, internationally acclaimed humanitarian activist, and co-founder of the charity super-group Band Aid. He shared [...]

My heart started racing as soon as I saw the Center for Performing Arts, and the large congregation of people inside the front doors.  I paused to collect myself, as I have never attended an event like Starry Nights. Once inside my level of anxiety grew. I could not believe that I was going to [...]

I wanted to share with you some of the details of my conversation just now with Thomas Ngobe, who is returning home to Canada tomorrow after working in Kenya for these past three weeks helping to distribute our shipment of 2,500 Kinder Kits, rehab supplies (wheelchairs, walkers) and other donations (flashlights, tshirts) to Kenyans in [...]

Ve’ahavta is proud to announce that this year’s Tikun Olam Awards Ceremony, Starry Nights raised almost $700,000 for various tikun olam, repairing the world, initiatives around the world on Sunday, November 7th, 2010 at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts. The event featured keynote speaker Sir Bob Geldof, internationally acclaimed humanitarian activist, and co-founder [...]

We are doing well in Kenya. Lisa broke her left hand finger on Thursday last week.  She was riding in the back of the truck delivering the Kinder Kits when she accidentally tipped a box and broke her finger. We made our first delivery of the Kinder Kits in a school in Masai land, a [...]

Thursday, November 4 9:30 am Seneca College King Campus POD-C 13990 Dufferin Street, Toronto 416-491-5050 ext. 5273 The Tutsi Genocide and its Aftermath In this presentation, Régine King will provide a short overview of the historical and political issues that led to the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, some of the consequences of this genocide [...]

On Thursday October 28th we distributed the Kinder Kits to various places which Marafiki identified. The following day Lisa and Corrine went on a safari and I went to visit my family.  Tomorrow, November 2nd, we will start the actual distribution of the items to the recipients. Thomas