Community Volunteerism – Overview

Sderot’s residents, mostly immigrants from Kurdistan, Iran, Morocco and Iraq, recognize the value of volunteering and contributing to society.  However, their ability to generate volunteerism within their community and to create support networks was greatly damaged by the immigration crisis they experienced as newcomers to Israel, and the events of the 1990’s.   

The immigration crisis included unemployment and poverty, disintegration of family structures and values, and damage to personal identity and ethic pride when Israel’s established population treated Sderot’s new immigrants as inferiors. 

In spite of this, with time the city developed a family atmosphere and a culture of volunteerism, with frameworks for activities and support. This atmosphere prevailed until the 1990’s, when Sderot absorbed a huge wave of immigrants.  During these years, Sderot’s population doubled – a growth spurt that the city was unprepared for and unable to support – and the state of Israel went through extreme social and economic changes.

Today, along with Sderot’s other blatant needs, there is a need to revive the community’s spirit of volunteerism.  Gvanim Association and its partners are working together to develop programs to recruit and place volunteers for everyday and emergency needs.  Gvanim has two goals: to place adult volunteers in the community where help is most needed and to promote volunteerism among the younger population, as a bridge between generations and to foster pride in their city.  Gvanim encourages and supports young volunteers to develop social programs; examples of such programs include the activities of the “Mitzad” volunteers and the students who volunteer in the Netivim Center in Sderot.

Gvanim thanks its Program Partners:  Zionut 2000, Sderot’s Community Center, the Municipality of Sderot/Dept of Social Services, The Ministry of Social Services/Division of Volunteerism, the Ministry of Housing/Project Renewal, JDC-Israel