Community
Projects
Community
Outreach:
Williamsburg,
Virginia presents a warm, family-like atmosphere for both students
and faculty, alike. Eighty percent of students live on
campus through all four years of college. The attributes
of the College create an atmosphere where learning occurs outside
the classroom setting on a daily basis. Hillel strives
to nurture this atmosphere by educating and participating in
community-based initiatives. Hillel has a broad programming
base that includes a breadth of co-op and campus-wide community
events.
In
addition to the social, religious, and educational aspects
of Hillel, we make every effort to help better our local community
through social actions. A popular event includes frequent
visits to the local Boys and Girls Club bringing happiness
to children who are less fortunate than us. Hillel also
has a mentoring program for children at Temple Beth El, located
just minutes from campus. The goal of the program is
to engage the Jewish youth of the community in service projects
that represent a part of Judaism and teach them about their
identity while having fun. We are also proud that many
Hillel students are also Hebrew schoolteachers at Temple Beth
El.
Another
community event that we help co-host each spring is the Ali
Kaplan Memorial Blood Drive. Recently Hillel has also
hosted a fun Tu B'shvat Seder to promote Jewish ecological
values, in which we raised funds to donate to the Jewish National
Fund and the Red Cross India Disaster Relief Fund in the spirit
of Tikun Olam.
Holocaust
awareness education represents a vital interest of our Jewish
community. In the spring of 2003, Hillel brought renowned
Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher and Bryan Mark Rigg, author
of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, a recent controversial
book. Also, every year Hillel hosts a Holocaust vigil
on-campus. In the past, Hillel has painted a mural with
AEPi that hung in the campus’s Sunken Gardens, hosted Holocaust
survivors from the area, and offered film viewings of “Life
Is Beautiful” and “From Swastika to Jim Crow” that attracted
many students, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
Lastly,
Hillel interacts with other cultural groups on campus such
as the Black Student Organization. A few campus wide
community events have included the William and Mary Freedom
Seder, inspired by the UJCVP, working in partnership with the
Black Student Organization and Multicultural Affairs exploring
common themes in Jewish and African American heritage and their
ties to Black-Jewish Relations in contemporary American Society. Another
popular annual event is the Faculty/Student Dinner with catered
food and a Klezmer Band to help Jewish students develop quality
relationships with Jewish faculty leaders to promote lasting
mentorships and partnerships between Jewish students and faculty. In
addition to these events Hillel has successfully ran a campus-wide
Israeli Culture night at the college's cafeteria featuring
Israeli dancing, food, and speakers.
We
greatly value our extended community and strive to give back
in a multitude of ways including both social actions service
projects and educational initiatives.
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