Yadid LaChinuch -Friend of Education

Yedid LaCinuch is an independent Charity, established in 2008 with the assistance of the Rothschild Foundation in Israel.
With the growing number of retirees in Israel, our aim is to employ the talent and, vast experience of pensioners, for the benefit of education.  We are engaging volunteering pensioners to teach, tutor and mentor children in Elementary schools. Each volunteer is devoting one day a week, from 8 am to 1pm to school. (Some volunteer for up to 12-18 hours a week)
Thus, we are achieving a double objective, improving the quality of life and sense of fulfillment of retirees and, benefiting the education system that is in dire need of assistance. The volunteering also benefits the community and raises the culture of voluntarism in society.
Following a Pilot in a small number of municipalities, we have developed a model of operation that allowed YL to grow fairly quickly.

We decided to concentrate on Elementary schools because educated and intelligent pensioners can easily teach the basic subjects, like; reading skills, mathematics and English. The overall coordination is with the Ministry of Education but the daily work is coordinated with the Head of Education in the local authority, he decides to which schools volunteers would be allocated and establishes the contact with the Headmaster of the schools.
The next stage is the selection of a local Coordinator-Facilitator. Preferably a retired teacher, who helps enlist volunteers, place the volunteers in schools, maintain close contact with the school Principals and is the local liaison to our head office. The Coordinators form the backbone of our operation in the field. They meet monthly with the Pedagogical Director of Yadid LaChinuch. They are all volunteers who are displaying remarkable leadership qualities.
All volunteers are receiving training sessions before they enter classes and during the school year.
In addition , we are having a small group of volunteers who are assisting the Head Office, an Attorney , people responsible for insuring the volunteers during their work in school and, public relation volunteers, who are helping us 'spread the word'.
Institutions: Yedid LaChinuch is run by a Steering Committee, composed of Professors in Education, and people from other professions. It convenes quarterly.  A Pedagogical Council headed by an experienced former school principal that includes proficient educators, who are supervising volunteer training and a variety of other issues. An Executive Committee , which Moshe Raviv is charring, that includes the Director General of our operation Mr. Nimrod Akerman , Dr. David Harman , a Professor of Education,  and the representative of the Gottesman Foundation , New York , who is partnering with the Rothschild Foundation, the Pedagogical Director , Mrs. Dina Benkler and the former head of Chanel 2 News, Mr.Shalom Kital. The Commitee is convening on a bi-monthly basis.
At present, we are having 1600 volunteers, working in 260 schools around the country. The number of volunteers is growing all the time.
We believe that with a dynamic and professional approach, it is possible to expand our effort into a nation- wide endeavor. The need for volunteers in schools has been clearly established. The availability of pensioners is evident, with about 11% of the population being over 65. The structure of our operation is well tested and produces good results
In 2011 Yadid LaChunuch has received the President's Award for volunteering