Group links baby boomers with Israeli volunteer opportunities

Marla Gamoran

When Marla Gamoran decided to search online for volunteer opportunities in Israel for baby boomers like herself, she was surprised when she couldn’t find a program that met her criteria.

“I started to search like we all do now for information to find out what volunteering opportunities were available, and I found so many amazing programs for young adults up to age 30… but nothing that was going to let me volunteer where I wanted to be, use my skill set and in the time of year that I wanted to go. I thought that was rather odd,” Gamoran said.

“No one was really targeting older Jewish adults to do skill-based volunteering.”

Soon after that, Gamoran, a Wisconsin native, took it upon herself to develop a non-profit organization that catered to her age group.

Founded in 2011, Skilled Volunteers for Israel links North American Jewish “adult professionals and active retirees” with Israeli non-profits for volunteer opportunities.

Gamoran was in Toronto recently to meet with some of Toronto’s Jewish leadership, as well as give a public presentation at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue to inform people about the New York-based organization that she hopes to successfully expand into a Canadian sister organization in Toronto. 

She said when she got the idea for this venture she was in her early 50s. 

“I was interested in volunteering in Israel myself. I thought, if I’m looking for this, I’m representing this demographic of North American Jewish adult professionals who grew up caring about Israel, very tied to the country, and wanting to do something – there has to be others like me,” Gamoran said.

In 2011, she hired an administrator based in Israel to help place North American volunteers.

By the second year, 21 volunteers had been placed with Israeli non-profits through Skilled Volunteers for Israel, and she developed a program in partnership with the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem that allows people to volunteer for half the day and study the other half.

“This year, we served over 40 volunteers, and in 2016 we’re launching a group program in Tel Aviv between Feb. 16 and March 7 that will integrate our unique placement model in a group format where people will have housing… and will do some additional enrichment activities, such as [hearing from] guest speakers and going on outings and to cultural events together as a group,” she said.

“This whole idea is that once boomers retire, or semi-retire, they still have 20 plus years of juice, of life, of ability to give, and that is sort of the changing model in the demographics of how generations view retirement and spend time during retirement.”

Gamoran added that having the opportunity to work side by side with Israelis gives North American Jews a better, more nuanced understanding of what life in Israel is really like.

“We strengthen the connections between Diaspora and Israeli Jews to the mutual benefit of both. We’re always trying to match a skill set with the real need inside an Israeli organization. We’re actively engaging Jewish mature adults and active retirees… through volunteering in Israel,” she said.

“We see ourselves as augmenting and strengthening Israeli organizations that are working on some of the real critical social issues going on in Israel, whether it be poverty, education, immigration, refugee resettlement, women’s rights, and we’ve worked with over 60 organizations since we began.”

The participants must cover the costs of travel and accommodations in Israel, as well as a $250 administration fee for the customized placements. Other administration and related costs are covered by private donations made to the organization.

For more information, visit www.skillvolunteerisrael.org.