Jewish students at more than 80 Hillels around the world came together to celebrate , an international day of volunteering on April 3. Good Deeds Day, which started in Israel in 2007, has become an annual tradition for Hillels. Here are highlights from some of their volunteer projects:

Good Gardening

Gloves, shovels, rakes 鈥� check. More than 80 Baltimoreans weeded beds and planted seeds in the Urban Farm, a communal vegetable garden at Towson University. Among the attendees were students from Towson Hillel, Goucher College Hillel, and University of Maryland Hillel.

Many Mitzvot

Over 100 students participated in a series of volunteer events organized by University of Michigan Hillel. Among the events were a river clean-up and gardening on the 350-acre campus farm. Students also volunteered at Maize & Blue Cupboard, which helps Michigan students experiencing food insecurity.

Beautiful Blankets

University of Connecticut Hillel students packed hygiene kits for those in need, wrote letters to sick patients, engaged in a textbook swap, and swabbed their cheeks to be registered as bone marrow donors for blood cancer patients. The volunteer events were co-hosted with Dignity Grows, Gift of Life, and Campus Wide Initiative.

New Friends

Franklin and Marshall College Hillel organized a Shabbat dinner welcoming Afghan refugees to Lancaster, PA, where the college is based. Students brought travel-sized toiletries for a donation drive to help refugees. This is part of a larger project to support Afghan refugees. Earlier activities included letter writing and making welcome packages with the Jewish Family Services of Lancaster.听

Helping Challah

黑料传送门 80 students from Tel Hai College Hillel, located in northern Israel, baked challah for Ukrainian refugees, students, and elders for Shabbat.

Breaking Bread

黑料传送门 professionals volunteered at Bread for the City, a nonprofit that helps low-income residents in Washington, D.C. Each week, Bread for the City delivers more than 5,000 bags of food and provides free legal services and medical support. The Hillel professionals spent an afternoon packing more than 500 bags of nutritious food for families in need.听

Plentiful Projects

, which serves Jewish students and young adults in Ukraine, Crimea, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, and Azerbaijan, hosted over 100 programs and projects in honor of Good Deeds Day. To support Ukraine amid the ongoing crisis, Hillel CASE has assembled food and hygiene packages, housed refugees, held online Shabbatot, and helped in evacuation efforts.

Dynamic Duo听

Brandeis University Hillel partnered with other campus organizations to engage students for Good Deeds Day. More than 50 Jewish students came together to paint puzzles for children and write letters to cancer survivors and senior citizens.听

Oona Wood, 21, served as the Hillel student coordinator for Good Deeds Day. 鈥淕ood Deeds Day is an active display of Tikkun Olam,鈥� said Wood, who is studying politics and Judaic studies.听

Emma Lichtenstein is a senior at Brandeis University.

鈥淎s a child, I grew up without any connection to Judaism. My family and I went to synagogue occasionally for Yom Kippur. In Israel, Orthodox Judaism is the most known way to keep tradition. I wasn’t exposed to any other way, so I thought there was only one way to practice Judaism and only one way to keep the tradition. Now, I have found that there鈥檚 so much more to Judaism than I thought. I recently went to a Hillel Israel Shabbaton in Jerusalem for young adults. They were from a variety of Jewish backgrounds. One of the most meaningful moments was celebrating Kabbalat Shabbat at Kehilat Zion, an egalitarian synagogue. I felt for the first time that there is a place for each and every person. I had never been to a synagogue like that before, where a woman said the Parashat HaShavua. That was very meaningful because it showed me how different Jewish communities are accepting and open minded. Throughout the weekend, we asked each other questions like, 鈥榃hat is Judaism to you?鈥檃nd 鈥業s there a G-D?鈥� The people were open and thankfully, not judgmental at all, which made this platform even more accessible. For me, the weekend was an authentic opportunity to explore new questions that occupy my mind on a daily basis, and to not be shy when asking those questions. I learned there are so many ways for me to belong and be Jewish on my own terms. Living my life according to my Jewish values is my personal way of keeping our tradition.鈥� 鈥� Amit Tal, Tel Hai College