Young Jewish Care in the spotlight With thanks to outgoing Chair, Rob Sher

Our Talented Residents

Why and how did you become involved with Jewish Care? I first got involved about seven or eight years ago, through a good friend of mine, Nat Roden. Nat had just finished leading the first year of the Lay Leadership Development Programme (LLDP) and had an idea to create a way for Young Professionals to volunteer at a Jewish Care home for one hour, one Sunday every month. He wanted someone to help set it up and we started running what went on to become the Six Sundays programme. After growing it across a few different Jewish Care homes I went on to lead the LLDP programme in its third year, and took on the role as Chair of YJC soon after that.

What is your proudest moments as Chair of Young Jewish Care? One moment in particular is when we started to see the Six Sundays programme become a fully functioning initiative with multiple volunteering sessions being run each month, each with separate Facebook and Whatsapp groups. Seeing the way Young Professionals are engaging with Jewish Care through a programme that was once just an idea on the drawing board has been really fulfilling.

Another one for me was helping to organise our biggest Young Patrons dinner yet in February this year, with 450 people joining us at The Londoner Hotel following a year of fewer events due to Covid. Most recently, I’d say running the London Marathon for Jewish Care in October this year, having never really run even 5km before Covid, was a really proud moment for me.

What advice would you give anyone looking to get involved with Jewish Care? The two best pieces of advice people have given me on my journey with Jewish Care so far are: 1. There are always ways to get involved and give back. Whether it be through time or money, whatever you want to bring to the table is something that will add value and have the most positive impact. 2. Think of a way to give back that is something you’re passionate about, and make sure the commitment is realistic and actionable. It might seem small to you but whatever the commitment is, it will still have a huge impact. A great example of this was the amount of people volunteering during the pandemic to become telephone befrienders. Half an hour a week spent on the phone can go a long way to change someone else’s life, and there are plenty of other ways like this to get involved with Jewish Care.

Are you planning to stay involved? I am definitely staying involved! I’ve joined the Business Breakfast committee and I also plan to help run missions to different homes as Jewish Care begins to open its doors again, to showcase the incredible work they are doing to people looking to learn more and give back.

Jewish Care is incredibly grateful to Rob for all of his hard work and dedication to Jewish Care and sincerely thank him for his time as Chair of Young Jewish Care.