A picture board highlighting the fifth graders preparing for the mitzvah project.
Heilicher's fifth grade planned a mitzvah day and brought together 170+ people, collected 180+ food items for donation, and made 200 mitzvah bags for those in need. They raised $453 to distribute to Sharsheret cancer research, Hadassah children's hospitals, and the Animal Humane Society. Fifth-grade student Mia M. shared her experience working on the event:
The fifth-grade mitzvah project, which took place on Sunday, January eighth, 2023, was a huge hit for the school community and me and my classmates. We held it at school and my fifth-grade class was responsible for creating the events, marketing them, and running the program.
My personal experience with the mitzvah project was meaningful. I loved running the slime station and basketball station. It made me feel like a leader and that I was important and I was doing something important.
It was so nice to see kids of all ages come together to do a mitzvah at stations like slime, bracelet making, card making, “Make a shot for Tzedakah’ which was a basketball station, and making mitzvah bags with hand warmers, toe warmers, chapstick, granola bars, and socks for homeless people and people who need them.
Hamorah Ester, a Hebrew and Jewish studies teacher at Heilicher, got to give away one of the mitzvah bags to a homeless man immediately after leaving the event.
When running the basketball station, I helped set up the kids who came and gave them the coins they earned from getting baskets. Things didn’t always go smoothly but we all had fun.
The mitzvah project was amazing and a relief to finally have, but I am pretty sad that it’s over. I had so much fun planning it, baking some of the bake sale treats, and finally, doing it, and I hope the people who came had as much fun as I did at this amazing event.
The whole point of the mitzvah project was to raise money to give to charity. My classmates and I did that but we also gained so much more than that.
