Israel marks Good Deeds Day 2016
With over a million participants, Israelis will celebrate doing good for their fellow people. Various activities are planned across the country, including volunteer work with the elderly and special-needs children.
Over 1.3 million Israelis are expected to participate Tuesday in the tenth annual Israeli Good Deeds Day (GDD).
Among the activities planned are: cleaning up forests, renovating and painting welfare institutions, beach cleanup, fun activities for special-needs people, community gardening, and activities with Holocaust survivors and other elderly people.
Most municipalities will take part in the activities, alongside hundreds of schools and youth groups, thousands of soldiers and students, and over 1,500 businesses.
Eight major events were set to take place in Israel on Tuesday, in which people would be able to do a good deed and have fun with their families. In addition, ten events were to be held in Tel Aviv bars, and five in Jerusalem bars, in which people will be able to meet with inspirational figures. Ten coffee shops will hold art exhibits celebrating the tenth year of the Good Deeds Day projects. Former president Shimon Peres will participate in the GDD, arriving in Jaffa for activities that involve cooperation between Arabs and Jews.
Other notable activities were to include business professionals giving out personal advice to all comers – for free. Their areas of expertise are varied, from dog training, through preparing people for their child's birth, to nutrition.
An especially touching event will be held by the Beit Issie Shapiro organization, which develops treatment for children with disabilities. Several volunteer designers will reveal purim costumes they created which incorporate the children's wheelchairs, and will reveal them to the children for the first time at the organization's Ra'anana facility.
The woman behind the Good Deeds Day, businesswoman and philanthropist Shari Arison, said that "Every year, we get excited all over again, seeing the huge turnout by masses of people in Israel and around the world who step up to do a good deed for their fellow people. The Good Deeds Day has become a day of giving. Private people, soldiers, students, retirees, and companies all join in the activities and contribute a lot to their fellow people, each according to their abilities and skills – and it's wonderful to see."
