04/15/2026
7th Annual Good Deeds Day Embodies Tikkun Olam
Madeline Balkanyi, 8, makes deeper cuts into the pink blanket, noticing its thicker than the other.CJN Photo / Adriana Gasiewski and Martha Sorohan
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
by Adriana Gasiewski
About 250 volunteers and 15 organizations took part in the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s seventh annual Good Deeds Day on April 12, providing assistance to those across Greater Cleveland.
“Our whole premise is ‘tikkun olam,’ – helping repair the world – and the Jewish community is always very involved in that and cares about helping all people, no matter who they are, and organizations we can help,” Amy Nadler, chair of Jewish Volunteer Network, told the Cleveland Jewish News. “We want to help as many people as we can.”
Activities included:
- BBYO teenagers, part of Jewish Youth Day Service, restocking shelves after Passover and sorting donations at Cleveland Chesed Center.
- Volunteers cleaning up Hebrew Cultural Garden and preparing it for spring planting.
- Jewish Housing Community working on home and yard maintenance at Jewish Family Service Association group homes.
- National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland sorting, cleaning and labeling donated books to be distributed to Little Free Libraries in Warrensville Heights.
- Rescue Village-Geauga Humane Society sorting donations, doing laundry, cleaning out closets and storage areas, preparing materials for events or doing outdoor activities like yard work, hosing out crates and cleaning a barn and trails.
- Vitalant hosting a blood drive at Gross Schechter Day School.
- Providence House welcoming volunteers to its east campus to sort and label inventory in its warehouse.
- PJ Library Young Families making tie-in blankets to benefit Providence House at the east campus.
- Volunteers cleaning the gym, play supplies and equipment and moving items from one closet space to another at the Mandel Jewish Community Center.
- Volunteers spending the afternoon with the JFSA’s Horvitz YouthAbility participants at JFSA’s Kindness Center.
- Participants sorting, attaching stickers and packing books at the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank.
- jHUB collecting and packing goods for the Ronald McDonald House.
- Volunteers painting garden rocks, decorating magnets and assembling garden pinwheels at the JFSA’s Kindness Center.
- Ketzev Cleveland Israeli Dance also participated, teaching older adults dance moves at King David Nursing and Rehabilitation.
Yuliya Frid of Solon brought her 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter to the JFSA Kindness Center in Beachwood to teach them the importance of volunteering.
“It’s a Jewish mitzvah to help others,” she told the CJN.
Aviva Roland, managing director of the Jewish Volunteer Network at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, said she was pleased with the turnout.
“I’m proud of how it brings so many different organizations and community groups together to really … live out our Jewish values,” she told the CJN. “We take care of each other, and we take care of our community. And we want our community to be as strong and vibrant as it can be, and we can do that.”
Staff Reporter Martha Sorohan contributed to this story.
