After the Good Deeds Day, many people who first tried themselves in action on a voluntary field, wanted to enroll as full-time volunteers and continue this activity, so the beginning of the month was aimed at holding meetings with the newbies and introducing them to the projects of the center. Interviews, acquaintance, training with a psychologist, supervision — this was what the first half of May consisted of.

Then our team of coordinators and volunteers took part in the international JR JDC conference in Chisinau. During 5 days, more than 130 employees of Jewish organizations from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Israel had the opportunity to attend professional lectures, trainings, master classes in art and team building, as well as individual meetings with a psychologist.

“This is a unique opportunity for people to get together, exchange experiences, get inspired by energy and share it with their colleagues,” said Oksana Galkevich, Director of Djoint Programs in Ukraine.

Also in May, we had a meeting of the Literary Evening project, which was held in cooperation with the Manger’s Jewish Library. The Literary Evening is an exciting project run in partnership with the Munger’s Jewish Library and supported by the  chain of stores «Librarius». As part of this project, we hold events of various formats: online and offline, as well as scheduled meetings in the library, dedicated to various topics of literature and the history of the Jewish people in Moldova and the world. This time we discussed the interesting topic of the geography of the Chisinau pogrom.

Education is an integral part of volunteering and at RVC we put a lot of emphasis on this. So, last month we had an educational seminar of the project “The Origins of Mercy”. Volunteers learned how to create and organize projects, as well as work in a team. The seminar helped to understand the basics of volunteering and effective project management. We discussed various areas of volunteering, including Foodsharing, and attracting new volunteers. The seminar became an important stage in the development of our center, gave us new ideas and inspiration for volunteer work. We thank everyone for their active participation and valuable contributions.

A few days after the seminar, a team of the most active and creative volunteers gathered outdoors in the courtyard of the National Museum of the History of Moldova. As part of the meeting, talented artist Maria Sklyarenko held a master class on painting with acrylics. She shared her knowledge and experience, inspiring the participants to create independently. During the master class, Maria showed an example of her painting, conveying her passion and love for art. It was an unforgettable evening filled with comfort, inspiration and creativity. And at the end of the master class, everyone went home with vivid emotions and a beautiful picture made by their own hands.

Also, on the eve of the Shavuot holiday, volunteers together with the elderly prepared a festive dinner. The table was filled with dishes made from dairy products, which are customary to eat on Shavuot. Volunteers prepared everything in advance and brought with them all the necessary ingredients. Cooking took place not only live, but also online! Volunteers and the elderly at the same time cooked, communicated, remembered the history of Shavuot, and shared unique recipes for festive dishes. We organized an online broadcast, which was joined by more than 40 people to share the joy of this holiday with the maximum number of people.

At the end of May, our volunteer, opera singer, owner of a velvet baritone Vazgen Hovhannisyan, took the initiative and pleased us with an online concert for the elderly. Vazgen prepared a program with favorite compositions of the youth of our beneficiaries, and also read his own poems. More than 50 people joined the broadcast, everyone was delighted.