{"id":18494,"date":"2016-04-22T00:19:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T07:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=18494"},"modified":"2016-04-20T18:23:09","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T01:23:09","slug":"rjds-student-mitzvah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/04\/22\/rjds-student-mitzvah\/","title":{"rendered":"RJDS student mitzvah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students Tomer Berko Gabay (student council president), Liam Greenberg (secretary) and Nathan Tourvieille (treasurer) with Heartly, aka Karen Pasqua, senior events coordinator, Howard Blank, Reesa Pawer and Julie Kendell. Student Tal Pretli (vice-president) was absent when the photo was taken. (photo from Richmond Jewish Day School)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Until last year, Richmond Jewish Day School did not have a student council. That was when Reesa Pawer, education assistant at the school, decided it was time to make some changes and do something \u201cfor school spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only were students given an opportunity to vote in their council, but they cast their votes at the same time as their parents were participating in the federal election. Said an enthusiastic Pawer, \u201cThere were lineups to the ballot boxes! The votes were counted and the student council was elected, as they would be in a real election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Class representatives were then chosen by teachers and students. Since then, the council has gone from handing out hot chocolate at recess to coordinating an impressive fundraising program.<\/p>\n

The students have targeted three charities to support, said Pawer. \u201cThey wanted a global charity, so they picked Variety Club. They wanted a local charity, so they chose the Richmond Animal Shelter, who received a cheque last term. And they wanted to support a Jewish charity, so they\u2019re raising funds for the Jewish Food Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project involved students from grades 1 through 7 and, said Pawer, the student council \u201cdid the legwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

To raise funds, students sold flowers, including gerbera daisies and roses, for local families\u2019 Shabbat tables. They also sold cakes and contributed $2 on non-uniform days, which take place monthly on Rosh Chodesh, to raise funds for Variety.<\/p>\n

On April 11, RJDS welcomed Howard Blank, president of Variety in British Columbia, to the school. After a short video presentation about the work of Variety, the students presented Blank with a donation. School council president Tomer Berko Gabay spoke at the assembly, saying that the student group felt \u201chonored to give this $1,000 cheque to Variety \u2013 The Children\u2019s Charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students had a chance to meet Heartly, Variety\u2019s mascot, and were shown a video by Richard O\u2019Shaughnessy, Variety\u2019s events coordinator, about a young man who has benefited greatly from the generosity of Variety supporters. Born with only one hand, Drew now has a robotic hand, which allows him to complete even the most intricate tasks. His passion is making jewelry and, thanks to the robotic hand, he is now able to operate the tools required to do so. The RJDS kids watched the video in rapt attention, exclaiming \u201cCool!\u201d when they heard about the \u201cbionic\u201d hand from Blank.<\/p>\n

Blank praised the students for their community spirit and hard work. He described the \u201cwonderful mitzvah\u201d they had performed. \u201cYou\u2019ve given a young boy or girl a new wheelchair or a special bicycle,\u201d he said. \u201cYou guys really helped make sure that every kid gets a fair chance, and we think that\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

RJDS principal Abba Brodt also applauded the students. \u201cI am really proud of you,\u201d he said. \u201cYou did something special \u2013 and so did your families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how this fundraising program contributes to the students\u2019 academic programs, Brodt described the integration of the school\u2019s Jewish studies with the government-mandated B.C. curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the perfect way to teach tikkun olam, to bring beauty to Shabbat tables and bring beauty to the wider world. It\u2019s the perfect way to tie what\u2019s out there in the world with what\u2019s in here,\u201d he said, putting his hand on his heart.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cReesa went above and beyond. This is a remarkable achievement for the student council. She gave the kids her full support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blank took the time to answer questions from the group assembled, bringing the kids\u2019 attention back to familiar experiences. He also reminded them to help kids in wheelchairs feel included when they meet them at playgrounds. \u201cThey don\u2019t just want help, they\u2019re just like you, they want friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

RJDS students will present a cheque to the food bank in June, said Pawer. \u201cThis is the first year we\u2019ve done such a big project,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shula Klinger<\/strong> is an author, illustrator and journalist living in North Vancouver.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students Tomer Berko Gabay (student council president), Liam Greenberg (secretary) and Nathan Tourvieille (treasurer) with Heartly, aka Karen Pasqua, senior events coordinator, Howard Blank, Reesa Pawer and Julie Kendell. Student Tal Pretli (vice-president) was absent when the photo was taken. (photo from Richmond Jewish Day School) Until last year, Richmond Jewish Day School did not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3169,1049,1353,1959],"class_list":["post-18494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-charity","tag-richmond-jewish-day-school","tag-rjds","tag-tikkun-olam"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}