Wokathon in Lviv 2024

A Volunteer Vocathon is a practical workshop aimed at helping solve specific tasks and requests of a community or organization in a particular place. During the volunteer hackathon, participants join teams and help the community respond to complex challenges or resolve problems that cannot be solved by local efforts alone. This Vocathon addressed challenges in 7 areas, which meant 7 teams were working.

The idea of the Vocathon lies in the fact that teams do not know their task before arrival — they do not know who exactly will join to solve it. For volunteers, this is also a challenge: to solve a task in 3 days in an unfamiliar city, with almost no resources, and in a team of people they have never met before.

Another special feature of this Vocathon was the nature of the tasks. Usually, these are requests for physical assistance — individual or community-related — involving manual work or searching for additional resources. At this Vocathon, 4 tasks had a creative character — developing projects for community development in several target categories and in various areas of the local community. This was the first time in all previous Vocathons and produced extraordinary results — each of the 4 teams presented 3–4 projects for the sustainable development of community programs according to the assigned target audience.

We are confident that such experience will help the community become stronger in its work and launch a new direction within the Vocathon. In addition, volunteers helped repair a synagogue, catalogue the matzevot collected on the streets of Lviv, clean the Jewish cemetery, and paint the walls in the premises of the “Or Shalom” psychological support center. A special joy was the participation of Entwine Mission representatives who helped repair the synagogue, paint the walls of “Or Shalom,” and bake more than 30 challahs for Shabbat.

Each Vocathon differs from the previous one because the needs of communities differ, resources and people differ, and so do the requirements. Every time, it is a challenge and a surprise at the same time. Of course, some requests appear regularly in our work — for example, during every Vocathon, we help arrange Jewish cemeteries or memorial sites, and we always try to do something concrete within the local Hesed.

This Vocathon was especially unique because one of the teams helped repair a synagogue that local volunteers have been restoring by themselves for several years. Most importantly, we were able to hold our first Shabbat in many years in the central hall of this synagogue, with participants of Entwine Mission from the USA, Canada and Mexico also joining. It was incredible — heartfelt and sincere, meaningful, like a new breath of life, like a revival.

 “Vocathon is an opportunity to combine everything I need and everything I enjoy: to see a new city (I’ve been to Lviv before — this city reveals itself differently every time), to meet hardworking people, to see friends, and most importantly — to help in an important cause. Volunteer events always have an incredible atmosphere that cannot be put into words. This is what I enjoy most. I volunteer because it allows me to improve at least a small piece of the big world. My volunteering journey began in 1998 in the library of our Jewish Sunday school. Now I help with various Volunteer Community projects in Cherkasy.” — Taibishlak Valentyna, 54, Cherkasy  

“This was my first Vocathon, and I am absolutely thrilled with everything! Especially the communication and collaboration with other volunteers. I went without a clear understanding of what would happen. I only knew the city we were traveling to. And that made it even more exciting — what will happen next? Will I be able to complete the task? And what will that task be? But I am grateful to all the coordinators and organizers for the wise distribution of people into teams — we did a great job, and it truly was teamwork! This gave me many positive impressions, strengthened my faith in people, in their sincerity and openness. Throughout the process, we communicated, got to know each other, discussed the work of each volunteer hub in different cities, exchanged experiences, and inspired one another for new, high-quality volunteer projects. It is very motivating to continue participating in volunteer projects and activities. I came to conscious volunteering not long ago — about a year. But my family and I always helped people in need. For many years, I supported some projects financially. But life has different periods, and now I can give more personal resources — share my experience and professional skills, pay attention to people, and use my human qualities. I am very grateful to the coordinator and to the opportunities provided to me by Lev (Jewish Volunteer League in Odesa) and JDC — for the chance to apply my communication skills and support elderly people in Hesed, to use my organizational abilities with children, and to share my professional experience in working with women. Sincere thanks to the entire organization of the Vocathon — very professional and high-quality. I look forward to further cooperation and future meetings!” — Furman Yulia, 41, Odesa