Sonia Newell – Development Officer

Volunteering is such an honour

As the year comes to an end, it is that time where we and other community organisations acknowledge the wonderful volunteer work done by so many members of our own and the wider community.  We held our Emanuel School Volunteers Assembly on Tuesday morning, which you will read about elsewhere in Ma Nishma, whilst Jewish Care held their Volunteers Thank You event on Tuesday evening. 

Camp Sababa

Camp Sababa is an annual Sony Foundation Children’s Holiday Camp that caters for children up to 16 who have disabilities.  It aims to give a wonderful holiday – fun-filled, active and with a Jewish flavour. It provides respite for 4 days and 3 nights to parents and families who provide year-round disability care for their children.  

There is also Sababa Lagamba for young adults aged 17 to 25 who have disabilities. Many of these young adults started attending Camp Sababa some years ago and they know a number of the volunteer carers who have been part of these amazing programs and return year after year as personal companions. The personal carers for the younger children are all recent graduates from Emanuel School (Class of 2018), Moriah College and Masada College, whilst the young adults are cared for by older graduates of these Schools. Included in this group this week were Emanuel graduates Hayley Klein (Class of 2011), Sam Koslowski (Class of 2012), Ella Simon (Class of 2015) and Asher Klein (Class of 2016) just to name a few. 

Many of our extended Emanuel community also volunteered at the camp, which was held at Shalom College, UNSW from 2 December to 5 December.  Wendy Milston, a current grandparent and parent of an alumnus, is on the committee that organises the volunteers who help prepare meals, clean the rooms and other vital roles during the 4-day camp.  Past parent Ruth Mizrahi, a registered Nurse, was on duty and alumna Maya Pollak (Class of 2001) has just taken over the role of overseeing the whole Camp program.

My shift on kitchen duty last Sunday evening was, as it is every year, such a rewarding experience – helping to prepare the food and then serve it to the campers, whose eager faces and hungry tummies greeted us as we served them dinner that night. I felt such great pride seeing so many of our Emanuel alumni volunteer carers as they lined up with the children and young adults for their hamburgers, salad and chips, and then afterwards as they assisted the children with Hanukkah-related activities.

I encourage you to join us as volunteers at Camp Sababa next year:  www.campsababa.com.au

Mazal tov to parent and past Board member Shira Sebban, who recently held the official Melbourne launch of her book “Unlocking the Past: Stories From My Mother’s Diary”.  This amazing publication is a collection of non-fiction short stories about Israel in the mid-1950s based on her mother’s diary which was only discovered after her death.  The book was first launched to a packed audience here at School on 28 May during the 2018 Sydney Jewish Writers Festival.  The Hebrew edition of Shira’s book will be launched in Jerusalem on 20 December – see details on the poster.  If you are in Jerusalem then, Shira would love you to join her.  Please pass the invitation on to friends and family in Israel who might also be interested in attending the book launch.  RSVP to: sebban@tpg.com by 17 December.

If you have news you would like to share with us, please let me know: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Thank you to members of our community who have shared their news with us during 2018. We wish you all a relaxing and safe summer break and look forward to sharing your news and ours in 2019.