Going Digital: JLGB Revolutionise Volunteering Fairs

A distinctive tapping could be heard from school halls over the last few months. Fingers drumming on iPad screens and ‘click’ another sixth former has made an on-the-spot connection with a chosen charity. Long gone are the days of laborious form filling as evolve’s sixth form volunteering fairs take a technical twist. Easy to use iPads are providing the perfect platform for year 12 and 13 students to register their volunteering interest directly at the fair.

Volunteering is an excellent way to boost any CV or university application which is why evolve, JLGB’s youth volunteering initiative, has been holding volunteering fairs for 16-18 year olds at schools over the last few months. With a few school fairs still to go, sign ups to the vInspired awards (the next step on the evolve journey for sixth formers) are soaring with a remarkable 515 students across the country already enrolled.

The fairs give 16-18 year olds a chance to talk to a wide range of charities, matching the skills students want to learn and skills they have to give. There are a variety of volunteering opportunities which may be unique to the individual, sector or cause they wish to help and with just a few taps of an iPad the students connect to their charity of choice. This year saw more charities and opportunities than ever before bringing students hundreds of youth and faith friendly volunteering opportunities quite literally at their fingertips. A volunteering revolution that saw hundreds of connections made between sixth form students and charities at a fair held in Yavneh College in November.   

Norwood, a charity who  provides support to children with learning disabilities and their families, were present at all six fairs and got in touch to say: “Thank you JLGB for organising the evolve volunteers fair. Volunteering is so important in helping charities such as ours to continue providing vital services to the people we support. We would encourage all students to get involved in this great initiative and sign up to volunteer at www.jlgb.org/evolve”

None of this would be possible without the support and backing of the Wohl Legacy who supported JLGB to pioneer the evolve youth volunteering and skills platform and which has already enabled over 8,000 young people to access volunteering in the last three years alone.

Thanks to a grant from the Oxford and St Georges Jewish Youth Trust, JLGB were able to purchase 24 iPads. This has been revolutionising JLGB activities across the whole organisation including with DofE, evolve, NCS and at weekly groups. They are taking interactivity to the next level. 

Record Breaking Year For Yoni Jesner Award

An extraordinary 624 young people from 11 schools across the country have now signed up to the prestigious Yoni Jesner Award, eclipsing last year’s numbers with an 83% increase! By volunteering just 20 hours, students in years 7 and 8 are able to make a difference to their communities in ways they never imagined they could.  

The Yoni Jesner Award is brought to you by evolve, JLGB’s youth volunteering initiative, in collaboration with the Yoni Jesner Foundation. The award calls 11-13 year olds to experience the power of helping others in memory of the inspirational Yoni Jesner, who was killed aged 19 in a suicide bombing in Israel in 2002. Yoni proved that anyone can make a difference in this world no matter their age, which led to the inception of this award after his passing. Since then, tens of thousands of hours of good deeds have been completed by 11-13 year olds as part of the Yoni Jesner Award.

It’s only a month since Yoni’s mother Marsha Gladstone has launched the award but already young people have begun volunteering and logging their hours on evolve. JCoSS student Maya Lachmann, aged 13, volunteers monthly distributing clothes to refugees at the New North London Synagogue Asylum Seekers' Drop in.  She described her experience as “A privilege” and although she initially found it challenging to approach strangers, she now thinks this has strengthened her communication skills.

The number of volunteers are continuously rising and it is an incredibly proud moment to reach such record breaking numbers of participants; an achievement worthy of Yoni’s name.

Neil Martin OBE, JLGB Chief Executive said:

“All of us at JLGB are so proud to power the Yoni Jesner Awards through the evolve volunteering and skills initiative. Working together with the Yoni Jesner Foundation we are excited for all the upgrades we have made as we further digitise the award with even more features. Now, for the first time, young people can sign up, not just through their school, but alternatively through the charity they are volunteering at or the youth group or synagogue they belong to, each of whom will be able to view the collective impact their young people have made.”

Young people can now sign up directly through their chosen synagogue, youth group or charity on evolve. To register for the award, discover youth friendly volunteering projects, track hours and keep on target, please visit www.jlgb.org/yonijesner