GIFT has been working with Hasmonean girls’ year 12 students this year, running sessions to inspire giving.

The initiative inspired and run by GIFT’s High School Manager, Shira Joseph, is facilitating the 50 girls to engage with a community project of their own; coming up with the concept; fundraising for it and rolling it out in the community.

The first group to come up with an initiative has called their project ‘Dot Box’, an anagram of the first letter of their names.

The group wanted to provide support & activities for teenage girls in hospitals, by way of gift and activity boxes.

One of the students, Orli Banin, told us “We know that being in hospital all day, every day, can be challenging and boring so we wanted to do something to help those girls in need.”

In collaboration with GIFT the girls pitched their idea to the senior leadership in the school.
They started fundraising for the boxes & contents by getting sponsorship for a walk to Great Ormonde Street Hospital, which they will be doing in the summer.

They received a generous donation from various local shops such as Bitz of Glitz, which included pompom hats, key-rings and other accessories, and were also gifted bracelets from a local jewellery shop. With the money from the fundraiser the girls ordered tie dye & scratch art kits and much more.

With the help of GIFT, the girls arranged a school session for Year 9 to pack up the boxes & write supportive cards & messages to the hospital patients. The boxes were delivered to Spread a Smile Charity to distribute.

Tamar kander, one of the Hasmonean girls explains “It was really inspiring seeing our initiative go from paper to reality.”

Shira Joseph noted “This group was a perfect example of people who came up with an idea, saw it through and brought goodness into the world. They worked so hard and it’s great to see the wonderful results.”