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Shira's Bat Mitzvah

Shira and her parents chose to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah by allocating half her party budget for 11 families. The Bat Mitzvah girl and her friends were instructed to shop and choose items within a budget, which would provide the best bang for the buck for Lema'an Achai families in need. What an excellent educational experience on so many levels, captured by the talented photographer, Yosef Symonds! Smart Chesed in Action!
When Shira and her parents were planning her bat mitzvah, they didn't want it to be about a party and, perhaps, a token mitzvah or project that they talk about. They also couldn't stand the idea of spending so much money on a party that would be over in a few hours....without making any lasting impact.

So, they decided to calculate what the cost of a standard bat mitzvah was - including catering, music, hall, photographer, etc. - and seeing if they could find ways of doing it themselves for half the cost - and taking the other half of the budget and giving it to tzedakah.

They included Shira in all the planning, budgeting, cost estimating, and decision making processes - exploring what was necessary, and what could be done more simply/cheaper - for example, by self catering, doing their own photography, borrowing decorations from gemachs, etc - so that more could be given to tzedakah.

In the end, they managed to make a beautiful Bat Mitzvah for half the original budget - and the other half of the money could be given to Lema'an Achai families.  At the Bat Mitzvah, all the guests were included by doing the shopping for the individual families shopping lists.  Instead of catering the simcha, they ended up catering Rosh Hashana for 11 families..

They encourage anyone and everyone to do the same - you don't have to be a rich donor or have lots of extra money to make a difference - you can just chose to spend your money where it counts.  Now that's Smart Chesed!

 

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