Last Friday a group of 15 students from Beit Shemesh and Yehuda Plains went out for a day of community service.

The students are participating in the Student Leadership Program of Partnership 2000 of the Jewish Agency.

As part of their framework they volunteer in the community on a weekly basis in different institutions in the city.

Once every two weeks they meet and discuss a variety of subjects having to do with community leadership such as: Jewish identity and values, vision for the future, cultural differences in society, and more.

Last week the students decided to stop talking and start doing.

They considered a number of different community service projects and chose a campaign of home renovations for the elderly.

The group received a long list of homes in need of repair from the Welfare Department and the Center for the Elderly in Beit Shemesh.

From this list they chose three of the most needy homes and went to meet with the families to see what was needed.

On Friday morning at 8:00 am they started working and worked throughout the day to fix up and paint the homes.

They were very happy with the results.

Alon Malcha, one of the students, summed up the day: "Despite the fact  that we were only able to work on three houses, we felt proud that we were able to help out these families.

We hope that our activities will encourage many other young people to volunteer and donate their time in their local community."