By Roni Kaufman, Julia Mirsky
The Spitzer Department of Social Work, The Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel
and Amos Avgar
World Joint Organization, New York
Decreasing government support for welfare services produces an increasing demand for volunteers worldwide. These volunteers replace and complement professional employees.In Israel, volunteers who are immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) play an important role in the provision of care to their fellow immigrants. Yet, very little is known about the volunteering patterns that they brought from their home culture. The present article is a case study of a successful volunteers’ program that operates in welfare centers in the Jewish communities of the FSU. The results of the study highlight the importance of attuning a volunteers’program to the specific needs and cultural background of the participants. Volunteers in the study share a similar cultural background with potential volunteers from the FSU immigrant community in Israel. Therefore, lessons from this study, adjusted to the specific context of Israel, may be useful with these volunteers as well.