Alexander's Bar Mitzvah

When it came time to choose a mitzvah project (the tradition of doing a “good deed” for his community and the world) on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah, Alexander from New York knew that he wanted to do something related to the great need for clean water around the globe.

He spent a lot of time looking into organizations that do important work in this area. What stood out to Alexander about WaterAid was the fact that we include the community in all of our projects.

In this way, we help to encourage stronger leadership within each community to ensure that the digging of each well involves as many local people as possible. We also work hard to educate each community about hygiene generally and how to stay healthy and clean. So it was really clear to Alexander that WaterAid would be his best option.

Approximately 160 adults and 50 kids attended Alexander’s special day. To raise awareness, in lieu of all gifts Alexander asked people to donate to one of two charities, WaterAid which he chose and Mazon chosen by his grandmother who was the Rabbi at his Bar Mitzvah. To make sure that his guests knew exactly where their donations were going and how their money was being spent, in each invitation he included an information sheet explaining his requests and some information about each charity. He also spoke about WaterAid in his Bar Mitzvah speech.

Alexander said, “I learned a great deal from this experience. I learned that if you care enough, you can make a difference even as a young person like myself. I recall at camp one summer, I was talking about politics with my counselor and one of my fellow bunkmates said, 'Why do politics matter? You’re not old enough to vote and you can’t make a difference.' Now this really upset me because I have always cared about politics and like to think that we can all make the world a better place.

“I have very fine role models in my family who have set excellent examples. My Dad has spent most of his career working full time in international human rights and my grandmother is a Rabbi who makes charity toward others a major priority and strongly encourages others to do so.

“For me, this event was an opportunity to prove my bunkmate wrong. With this project I was really able to play an active role in bringing around change and I really felt I was making a difference. I also got to see what goes in to making a difference and the type of effort and attention it requires.”

Are you celebrating a special occasion in your life that you would like to mark by raising funds for WaterAid America?  If so you can promote your fundraising goal by setting up an online  personal fundraising page and sending the link to all your friends and family.