Youth groups, summer camps, middle schools, high schools, young professionals missions, confirmation trips and Birthright Israel groups visit Yad LaKashish: Lifeline for the Old every year to experience first-hand our unique model of Tzedakah in Action. Here, our visitors have the opportunity to build inter-generational connections with our elderly artisans, overcoming barriers of language and age and creating memories that last a lifetime.

Youth visits are always a highlight for our elderly artisans. Youth organizations such as United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Youth Program (USY), The Birthright Israel Program, Alexander Muss High School in Israel Programs, NFTY in Israel, Ramah and others have included Yad LaKashish as a key element of their itineraries.

These interested and committed young people visit the workshops, make themselves at home, and chat in English, Hebrew, Spanish, French, Farsi, and Russian. The workshops buzz with interaction between the generations. The young people sometimes even surprise the elderly with songs and performances.

In addition to youth visits from abroad, local Jerusalem junior and senior high school students volunteer in the workshops helping to make tzedakah boxes and mezuzot, while soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces come to Yad LaKashish to spend a morning helping out in the workshops, visiting with the elderly and disabled and doing repairs around the Yad LaKashish complex.

Students studying abroad in Jerusalem, or even just extending a visit, often volunteer for short or long periods of time at Yad LaKashish. In the past, we have had volunteers from the Hebrew University, Hebrew Union College, Nativ, and other programs based in Jerusalem.