(November 30, 2020

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Tel Aviv

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JNS Wire)

BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change has launched a special Giving Tuesday telephone fundraiser in an effort to raise financial aid for Israeli students who otherwise could not afford taking part in its programs next year.

“Last year, we were able to give more than 120,000 NIS in scholarships to our participants, thanks to the donations raised on Giving Tuesday,” said Julia Tobias, BINA’s Director of Development. “We anticipate twice the number of requests for financial aid this coming academic year, as the pandemic has resulted in financial hardship for families everywhere.”

Dozens of young adults from across Israel and the Jewish world, who take part in BINA’s year long pre-army gap year leadership programs, will operate a 12-hour long telephone fundraiser on Tuesday, December 1st, in other to secure the necessary donations.

“I always talked about how to make a difference in the world, now I am actually making a difference,” said Rachel Lock, a gap year student from New York City, who will take part in the telephone fundraiser. “In difficult times like these, I think it’s extra important to help others. BINA has a huge impact on my life so I’m very excited to help others experience the same.”

This year’s Giving Tuesday activities will also include a three hour-long Zoom session that will provide a glimpse into BINA’s Jewish classes and activities and a raffle of prizes donated by supporters.

One of the volunteers who organized the Zoom session is Yuval Brosh, who takes part in BINA’s pre-army gap year program. Yuval will act as fundraising coordinator during the event. “I am excited and a bit nervous ahead of the session because I know how important it is,” he said. “This program is meaningful to us. We want to make sure we increase the donations as much as we can so we can give others the opportunity to join us and become part of our BINA family.”

“We would love to be able to say that we accept everyone into our leadership programs, regardless of socio-economic status,” Julia Tobias said. “We always promote inclusion and diversity, that money isn’t a barrier to entry into our programs; in order to do that we need the community to pitch in and help us achieve that.”

BINA has also announced they have two donors, Israeli and American, who have promised to match every dollar donated on Giving Tuesday.