Since 1982, the JCC Maccabi Games® have always been more than an athletic competition. The JCC Cares program, formerly known as Days of Caring and Sharing, is an opportunity for you to enhance your experience at the Games by taking a few hours out of your competition schedule to participate in a community service project. The basic American concept of community service is closely tied to the basic Jewish value of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), which urges us to make a difference in the lives of others who may be less fortunate than ourselves.
Athletes take part in different JCC Cares projects depending on which set of Games they attend.
Examples of projects you and your delegation might participate in are:
- Packing school supply kits for Family Centers and Israeli children
- Visiting sick kids and teens at local hospitals
- Spending time with older adults in nursing homes
- Improving neighborhoods or local facilities. (i.e. Habitat for Humanity)
- Making Surgi-Dolls for pediatric patients at Medial Centers and Hospitals.
JCC Cares has become the centerpiece of Jewish programming at the JCC Maccabi Games. The goal of connecting people to people through interactive tikkun olam (repairing the world) projects at the core of the JCC Maccabi Games.
Bike For The Fight
Bike For The Fight (BFF) is an international biking project aimed at raising funds for the benefit of cancer research in Israel. The project was initiated and established By Tom Peled who lost his father to cancer a year ago. The highlight of the 2012 BFF will be a 3000 mile coast to coast bike ride from Los Angeles to New York lasting three months, August through October.
Throughout the ride Tom plans to visit numerous communities, campuses and sporting events and share his personal story in order to encourage others to join BFF by donating money or accompanying him on parts of his ride. Tom will be visiting Memphis during the 2012 Games.
All money raised throughout the journey will be donated to the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), an organization that gives grants to top Israeli cancer researchers located in leading scientific institutions across Israel. The goal of the ICRF is to ensure that these scientists remain and conduct their groundbreaking research in Israel, for the benefit of Israel and all mankind.
