WJR supporters knit and send clothes to warm up for Mitzvah Day 2011

Many of the groups will be knitting blankets as part of WJR’s PomKnits initiative which aims to knit squares to sew together for older people who are suffering from the freezing winter, many of whom live in dilapidated housing with no heat and no means to heat their homes. They rely on support for fuel, food and in some cases water and visits from WJR’s homecare to relieve isolation. The blankets knitted by the community in the UK are not only a message of warmth but a reminder that they are not alone and that the community here is thinking of them. Each blanket is tagged with a special message “This blanket has been knitted with love by World Jewish Relief supporters in the UK”

To date 1,251 blankets made up of an impressive 50,040 squares have already been sent to Eastern Europe. The ambitious target is to make 25,000 blankets (a million squares) and Mitzvah Day will help to bring us closer to that target.

Emma Segal, Head of Community Partnerships at World Jewish Relief commented "Mitzvah Day is a great way for people in our own community to come together in a day of social action to support those living in appalling poverty in communities in Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union. Thousands of people are forced to rely on WJR’s support and Operation Winter Survival helps to provide assistance to those in desperate need over a life-threatening winter.

“I would like to thank the WJR supporters and communities who will be hosting collections and knitting blankets on Mitzvah Day, sending a real message of hope and support to vulnerable people.”

The goods are shipped across the world as part of WJR’s Gifts in Kind project which has enabled WJR to ship more than £26 million in wholesale value of goods received by the charity as humanitarian aid from the UK to communities in need since 2003. For families facing desperate hardship and struggling on meagre incomes, choices between buying medicine for a sick child or food for the family have to be made daily. Gifts in Kind eases those choices by providing good quality clothes, new toiletries, blankets, shoes, pharmaceuticals and many more items which instantly help and improve lives. Last year Gifts in Kind sent 20, 40 foot trailers of gifts across the world.

Please contact Elana Wall, Community Fundraiser on 020 8736 1250 or ew@wjr.org.uk for more information about these events.

Mitzvah Day Events for WJR

JCoSS – Warm Clothing Collection and knitting: 18 November

Wolfson Hillel Primary School - Warm Clothing Collection

Dunstan Road Shul – Operation Winter Survival Collection: 20 November

Stanmore Shul - Operation Winter Survival Collection and Knitting: 20 November

Belmont Shul and Stanmore Shul

Bristol J-Soc – Knitting

Heaton Park Shul (Manchester)- Operation Winter Survival Collection and Knitting: 20 November

New London Shul – Operation Winter Survival Collection: 20 November

Ner Yisrael Shul – Operation Winter Survival Collection: 20 November

Clore Shalom School – Operation Winter Survival Collection: w/c 14 November

Oxford Jewish Congregation – Operation Winter Survival Collection and Knitting

Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue – Operation Winter Survival Collection

Hampstead Shul – Operation Winter Survival Collection

Kinloss Shul – Operation Winter Survival Collection and Knitting

Northwest Surrey Synagogue – Operation Winter Survival Collection

Radlett United Synagogue – Knitting

Wolfson Hillel Primary School - Operation Winter Survival Collection