Kisharon Langdon member wins prestigious youth volunteer award

“[The keyrings] have provided the opportunity for autistic people and those with a learning disability to be active participants in their own lives. They have also strengthened relationships between our members and our support staff [and] made person-centred support not just a value, but a reality.”

Natasha Lush (l) and Joan Lipkin-Edwards (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

Receiving her award from Joan Lipkin-Edwards, whose family sponsored the award, Natasha said she felt “really, really emotional”.

Lipkin-Edwards described Natasha as “a passionate volunteer, whose creativity and drive has sparked real change across [Kisharon Langdon]. Her leadership in creating accessible communication tools is transforming how their charity is delivering person-centred care.”

Natasha was one of a number of people whose commitment to charity work was honoured on Sunday at the annual JVN event, which was attended by 350 people and had received nominations from over 50 charities. 

JVN volunteer of the year nominees (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

The Volunteer of the Year award went to Wendy Stone, who teaches English as a second language (ESOL) to refugees and asylum seekers at New Citizens Gateway, a non-Jewish charity.

Farida Stanikzai, the charity’s operations manager, said: “Helen is educated and compassionate and makes a huge difference, not only to New Citizens Gateway, but most importantly to the people we support.….She helps them develop their English skills in ways that go far beyond the language…Her students gain confidence, independence and a real sense of belonging in a new country.”

(l-r) Farida Stanikzai, Helen Stone and head of the judging panel, Dame Mary Marsh (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

Helen told guests: “I’m absolutely astonished and overwhelmed by this. I didn’t think what I was doing was out of the ordinary or really special.”

She said that what inspired her to work with refugees and asylum seekers was her mother, who had come to the UK from Nazi Germany in 1939 as a refugee. While she also volunteers for Generation2Generation (G2G), which enables descendants of Holocaust survivors to tell their ancestors’ stories, Helen said: “Today, it’s all about New Citizens Gateway, which is the most wonderful organisation, and really Farida is an absolute powerhouse, and she has done so much wonderful work.”

The Volunteer Team of the Year award went to two groups – the madrichim (leaders) from 12 youth movements, who took hundreds of 16-year-olds on Israel tours last summer, overseen by UJIA and the Jewish Agency, and the team of volunteers from Manchester Jewish Museum.

What is a seen by many as a rite-of-passage, this year’s Israel tour threw up particular challenges due to the 12-Day War with Iran last June. Training was moved at the last minute from Israel to London, and participants and leaders were unsure if the tours would go ahead until just days before departure.

(l-r) Adam Waters, Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire Robert Voss, Sam Mayer and Joel Bayford (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

Presenting the award, Robert Voss CBE CStJ Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire said the leaders had “made an exceptional contribution to our community, showing extreme resilience and ideological commitment under incredibly circumstances. They have ensured the future of Jewish community engagement by safeguarding a key rite of passage experience.”

Voss said of the team at Manchester Jewish Museum, who were live-streamed from the cultural centre: “Volunteers are central to everything they do. Day in, day out, they help to create a welcoming, inclusive and high quality experience for everyone who walks through the doors, from front of house and gallery support to guiding visitors through the historic synagogue. This team plays a vital role in how the museum is experienced.”

The guest speaker, actress Maureen Lipman, said that volunteering was integral to the Jewish community and entertained guests with humorous anecdotes. Recalling her own experience of volunteering at B’nai B’rith UK while growing up in Hull in the 60s. “We visited the old people in the flatlets. Every week, we could hear the old people – that’s my age now – muttering: ‘Oh, it’s the kids again. Pretend we’re out.’”

Dame Maureen Lipman (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

Saying that her skill was speaking at Jewish charity events “to make people laugh so much that their handbags fall open”, the award-winning performer said that volunteering was something anyone could put their hand to. “Everybody has a skill, and with the volunteer movement, you can find that skill and you can adapt it to the charity. If you can cook, you can cook for those who can’t. If have a skill or a bit of time on your hands, you can mentor. …You don’t have to commit to a schedule, you can sign up for drop-in volunteering. It is food for your soul, and it enhances your own wellbeing.”

At this year’s ceremony, which was compered by Nigel Rothband, instead of presenting a single Lifetime Achievement award, around 30 people were recognised for the decades of voluntary work they had given to charities. Their contributions have been recorded in the JVN Living Volunteer Archive, which was also launched on Sunday with a photographic exhibition of the awardees.

JVN CEO Nicky Goldman said: “We at JVN felt it was important to honour that kind of volunteering properly…stories of individuals who have shaped their charities and communities over their lifetime…It’s our way of ensuring that these stories are not just celebrate once but remembered.”

Nicky Goldman (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

Tamar Citron, whose late mother, Judy, co-founded JVN with Susan Winton, and whose family has been supporting the Lifetime Achievement Award for many years, said her mother had “the determination, energy and vision to get [JVN] up and running in 2006, together with Susan Winton. It is apt that the Lifetime Achievement Awards are being dedicated to her name, with JVN being one of her greatest and proudest lifetime achievements.” 

Tamar Citron (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

"At the most fundamental level, my mother wished to create a charity that matched a volunteer opportunity with the right person, and in doing so, everyone wins – the charity the person volunteering and the community as a whole. Therein lies the beauty of a perfect match.”

The cross-communal event included speeches from both the Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, and Rabbi Josh Levy, co-lead of the Movement for Progressive Judaism.

The Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

Referring to the commandment of breaking off a piece of dough while making challah, the Chief Rabbi said: “Challah represents the Jewish people. The way which we define ourselves is not according to what we have amassed and what we’ve got, but rather, according to what we give. It’s for this reason that I feel so humbled to be in this hall in the presence of so many people who live in order to give.

“Thank you so much to JVN for everything that you are doing to inspire our community to go to even greater heights and levels of exceptional giving.”

Rabbi Levy said: “Volunteering is core to the culture of our communal life. As well as personally rewarding. It is also an expression of our shared core Jewish values. As Jews, we recognise that even in a community with difference and diversity within it, we also stand responsible for one another.”

Rabbi Josh Levy, co-lead of Progressive Judaism (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

“Any charity can come to JVN to ask them to connect to our community to make a difference in the world and this especially includes many wider sector charities which have Jewish leaders and also Jewish founders – something which in itself speaks to the enormous contribution that we make in caring about the wider world.”

A surprise presentation was made to JVN life president Rosalind Preston to mark her 90th birthday and her many decades of contributing to the community as – in her words – “a professional volunteer”.

Daniel Levy, president of JVN, called her “a tour de force” and Goldman said that the title “professional volunteer… belies the huge impact you have had on people locally, nationally and internationally”.

Rosalind Preston (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

A particularly moving film by David Coleman was shown, which included footage and interviews with a number of volunteers who had found placements through JVN.

The organisation, which has worked with more than 50 charities over the past year, matching 460 people with voluntary roles, has seen more than 550 people sign up to give their time freely.

JVN has also run 25 training forums and conferences, attracting nearly 450 attendees.

Clive Nathan (Photo: Emma Ziff)[Missing Credit]

Paying tribute to all those who volunteer both inside and outside the Jewish community, JVN chair Clive Nathan said: “Volunteers are the unsung heroes of our community. These are the people who give their time, their energy and their heart without any expectation of recognition. They are the quiet force behind so much of what makes our society and our community compassionate and resilient.”

Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

Clive Boxer – AJEX

Howard Brecker – All Aboard Shops

Sheila Gewolb – Board of Deputies

Camille Compton – British Emunah

Meir Plancey – Camp Simcha

Susan Malins – Chai Cancer Care

Ian Cohen – Coventry Reform Synagogue

Debbie Slyper Z”L – GIFT

Guilda Shamash- Hadassah UK

Rita Rogers – Jewish Care

Maureen Solomons – Jewish Care Scotland

Sandy Weinbaum – Jewish Family Centre

Caroline Ratner – Jewish Women’s Aid

Pamela Livingston – JLGB

Selina Gellert – JW3

Lisa Silverbeck – Kisharon Langdon

David Wolff – Maccabi GB

Hilary Halter MBE – Nightingale Hammerson

Jack Matthews – Norwood

Veronica Kennard – Royal Free Charity

Adam Musikant – The S&P Sephardi Community

Paul Solomon – Sutton & District Synagogue

Eli Seliger – The British Friends of Zichron Menachem

Alex Weiss – The Liberal Jewish Synagogue

Adam Rose – UJS

Susan Starr – United Synagogue

Rae Ingleby – WIZO

Frank Maxwell – World Jewish Relief