Shabbat Walk is a charity that arranges volunteers to assist members of the community who
need help navigating difficult circumstances. Our primary strength is the inspiring
selflessness of the local high school students. We have 850 volunteers from across London
and Manchester.
We provide ongoing support to families where either a child or parent is living with a mental
or physical illness or disability. We also aim to lighten the burden in overwhelming
situations, such as those relating to divorce, perinatal complications, death of a young
parent, or severe financial hardship. Volunteers will go and give children in such families
undivided attention, be a listening ear for them, play with them, and do homework with
them. Another aspect of our work relates to our care for the elderly, assisting them with
visits, shopping on their behalf, and providing food packages.
How it works
Shabbat Walk is unique in providing assistance tailored to each family or individual via our
Family Liaison team. The team spends hours on case management, visiting families, and
creating plans to meet their needs. While other organisations assist with specific challenges,
we aim to relieve whole family systems by alleviating the strain caused by these issues. Our
consistent relationship with families enables us to build trust and see their challenges first-
hand, while one-to-one friendships with volunteers give children invaluable support.
Consequently, we can offer life-changing assistance, advice and referrals when families and
their children are suffering. Without our holistic support, family systems would struggle to
function, causing long-term damage.
Working with our Family Liaison team is a robust group of administration and coordination
staff with 15 members in total, skilfully managing the wellbeing of our large number of
beneficiaries and volunteers. Safeguarding is our priority, including training and security-
checking our volunteers and families, and we have extensive safeguarding policies in place.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Rabbi Joshua Conway.
History
Shabbat Walk was founded in November 2015 by Eliezer Gilbert, who had been visiting the
Royal Free on a weekly basis. Other volunteers began joining Eliezer in visiting the hospital,
and the operation soon expanded to finding other volunteering opportunities for young
volunteers. This quickly grew to include care homes and visiting many other hospitals across
London. From this idea, a concept was born: finding opportunities for teenagers to use their
spare time constructively by actively engaging in acts of kindness.
Avi Dubiner, a volunteer who was just 15 at the time, was instrumental in the organisation’s
growth. He encouraged over 200 young volunteers from his school and the community to
get involved in regular volunteering. This enabled Shabbat Walk to expand its services into
helping families in need both on Shabbos afternoons and throughout the week. Shabbat
Walk soon recruited more coordinators to match the sharp increase in volunteering activity.
By 2020 there were 17 teenage volunteer coordinators managing and promoting these
activities. In 2021, Shabbat Walk shifted its approach to create a safer and more efficient
volunteering environment, hiring volunteer coordinators and family liaison officers to
provide increased monitoring and safeguarding of all operations.
Shabbat Walk also introduced weekly Chaburahs for volunteers to learn about the Torah
values and concepts surrounding the topic of giving. This added the dimension of thought
and intention behind the actions of volunteering, giving the volunteers an appreciation of
the importance of what they do, both for themselves and for the people they help.
Awards and Accolades
2016 – Eliezer Gilbert – Volunteer of the year – Jewish Volunteering Network
2017 – Eliezer Gilbert – Thirty under 30
Avi Dubiner and Michal Morgenstern – Eighteen under 18
Avi Dubiner – Awarded ‘ points of light’ award by the Prime Minister Theresa May.
2018 – Chaya Hoff – Rising Star award – Jewish Volunteering Network .