King David makes grade with good deeds

More than two million people take part in Israel’s Yom hama’asim hatovim (Day of good deeds) every year, a day centred on the idea, “Feels good to do good.” King David Linksfield took part in the day this year on 18 March, with volunteering activities across the grades.

Grade 8s created murals for Chubby Chimes, a child-protection organisation that looks after more than 2 000 children. The murals went to the therapy and rehabilitation centre for children who have been removed from their homes due to domestic violence or sexual abuse.

Grade 9s wrote cards with kind wishes for the residents of Sandringham Gardens and to nurses working at Johannesburg General Hospital, in honour of Nurses Day in April. The notes acknowledged the nurses’ work.

Grade 10s took part in pot-planting. Each pupil was given vegetable seeds to create a garden for Ratanang, a home that looks after children with cerebral palsy at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, and to give the residents of Parkcare Centre some lively home décor. Parkcare is a government-run old-age home.

Grade 11s and 12s made 1 500 jam sandwiches. One thousand sandwiches were donated to the Zenzele informal settlement in the West Rand, which is home to more than 5 000 people. The remaining sandwiches were donated to the Jan Hofmeyr feeding scheme in Auckland Park, which feeds 250 children every day and gives them clothes and toiletries.

Supported by the generous donations of the King David High School Linksfield parents, the school was able to make a meaningful difference on this day. The initiative, orchestrated by student leaders at the school, embodied the spirit of the Jewish value of tikkun olam (repairing the world).