UJA-Federation has expanded the scope of missions to include service programs within North America.

Domestic Volunteer Missions

We offer three thematic types of missions throughout North America. Each mission includes a hands-on volunteering component.

People-to-People Missions

These missions connect donors to individuals in Jewish communities throughout the United States and Canada.

We can help create opportunities to learn about the more than 350 years of diverse and fascinating Jewish communities and federations around the country and Canada. Visits to local museums, community centers, and synagogues are coupled with volunteer projects, creating a unique opportunity to explore the individual history of local Jewish peoplehood. Families with children can visit with and volunteer beside Jews in Cincinnati, Atlanta, Las Vegas, North Carolina, Montreal, Toronto and many other communities.

In 2010, UJA-Federation traveled with more than 20 mothers and their children to Atlanta for a weekend around Martin Luther King’s Birthday. Mission participants:

• Shared a Shabbat dinner, volunteered at a soup kitchen, did arts-and-crafts projects with seniors at a Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta senior home, and toured the city.
• Bonded with one another and the new knowledge of another Jewish community.
• Saw projects in Georgia that were replicated in New York, and understood how their help is needed at home as well.

Family Volunteer Missions

While previous missions have focused on families with teenagers, these volunteer missions involve families with children ages 14 and younger. The goal of these missions is to deepen the entire family’s understanding of Jewish values and UJA-Federation's role in preserving them, and to instill a stronger connection to tikkun olam, repairing the world, early in the children’s lives.

Locations In Crisis

Domestic volunteer missions provide hands-on opportunities connected with national crises. Suitable projects, interesting locations, emotional connections, and local Jewish organizations help make these experiences meaningful for you and your friends and family. From Hurricane Katrina to the earthquake in Haiti, UJA-Federation's network of generous donors are quick to lend a hand or a dollar to help those in need.

For example, in 2006 UJA-Federation of New York in Westchester created a two-and-a-half-month hands-on project in response to Hurricane Katrina that culminated in a mission to Baton Rouge.

Called Operation Louisiana Purchase, the initial mission volunteers:

• Provided donations and volunteers from community groups throughout Westchester
• Helped pack a 40-foot trailer with food, household items, and supplies for those affected in Baton Rouge 
• Met the trailer at a FEMA park and — with the help of local Baton Rouge community groups — distributed the goods to hundreds of grateful displaced hurricane victims

Over the next two years, three other Westchester Family Missions went to Louisiana to continue the initiative.