merienda for baby help

3-year old class at Baby Help

Me, Madeline, & Steph (past Baby Help volunteers)

When I was in Argentina summer of 2012, I volunteered at JDC's Baby Help Center. My days at Baby Help were filled with laughter, cute children, and sometimes a little Spanish yelling to tell the kids to share with each other. I left everyday with a smile on my face and the whole time felt like an aunt or cousin to all of these kids, showering them with love throughout the day to let them know they were loved and important. This year Baby Help has undergone a huge transformation and is being integrated into the Tel Aviv Jewish Day School here in Buenos Aires. Although this is a great long-term decision as the kids will be more fully integrated into the larger Buenos Aires Jewish community, its a little bit sad now because the Baby Help I knew and loved has changed. JDC is raising funds to help with the transition and make sure the kids are getting the same resources they had in Baby Help.

When Baby Help closed a few months ago, my friends Steph and Madeline who were volunteering at Baby Help at the time came to me to discuss fundraising for the program. We decided to do what we could starting with a merienda in Buenos Aires and inviting our friends we've made to come support a program that is close to our hearts.

Over twenty of our friends came out to support Baby Help, we had baked and brought food for everyone and asked that everyone donate based on what they felt like giving. We ended up raising about $300 to start off fundraising efforts for the Baby Help's integration into Tel Aviv. I know this is not a lot compared to what they are trying to fundraise but I was so amazed that twenty young adults all between 20-30 years old were willing to give to a program they knew nothing about except that their friends had loved their experiences volunteering there.

Here's some more information about Baby Help and the integration into the Tel Aviv School: Baby Help was established in 2003 following the large 2001 economic crisis in Argentina to help Argentina's most vulnerable families by providing essential support such as food, milk, vitamins, vaccinations, vital newborn services, and medical attention for babies children up to age three. Baby Help also included a full-time daycare center in Buenos Aires, which offered specialized services for children at-risk and a connection to Jewish tradition for these children and families.

In 2014, as part of JDC’s efforts to transition critical social welfare services to local community institutions, JDC partnered with the Tel Aviv School, an elementary school based in Buenos Aires, to transfer Baby Help’s daycare services into the existing structure of a local academic institution. This transition will allow the program to sustainably thrive within an educational framework, will expand the social network of the children and families, and incorporate the program into the institutional framework of Buenos Aires’s Jewish Community.

As part of this transition, JDC will help support the Tel Aviv school by providing consultation and financial resources. The aim is to raise $250,000 to support the development of a physical space for Baby Help within the school, and support the tuition, food, and materials for 30 children in the program.

This will probably not be the last time you hear me talking about Baby Help but I was excited to share the success of our fundraiser and wanted to thank everyone that came out to support us! Also, a HUGE thank you to Steph Lipman and Madeline Spolin for helping to make this event so successful! And thank you to Yael Magenheim for letting us use your apartment's beautiful space for the event!