Julia Lisi celebrated her Bat Mitzvah in 2009 and did a terrific Mitzvah Project which benefited The Bali Children’s Project.
We think this idea can be duplicated by any child across the country and asked her some questions to get more details on what she did.
Please continue reading:
MM: Why did you decide to take on this particular project?
JL: I had heard about the great work The Bali Children’s Project and Linda Venter were doing with Balinese children, and that they had begun a knitting and sewing club to help make the young women more self-sufficient by giving them a commercial skill. I also knit so I thought it would be a good connection.
MM: Can you give us details of your Mitzvah Project.
JL: My friend and I posted flyers and sent emails to everyone we knew – especially our classmates at Temple – and asked for everyone’s leftover yarn, knitting patterns, and other supplies and we had a drop box in our Temples to collect it. Then we held a bake sale at school and raised money. We gave the yarn, patterns, supplies and money to Linda Venter. She bought more knitting supplies with the money.
We were very lucky that one mother of a kid at Temple once had a yarn store and didn’t know what to do with the leftover yarn once the store closed. She was so happy to know it would go to a good cause. We found that everyone had yarn left over from various projects they had made.
The Balinese children with their donated knitting supplies
MM: Did your project have a start and end date?:
JL: The project was begun in the fall of 2008 and was completed by my Bat Mitzvah date (3/21/09).
MM: In your own words, what does it mean to you to do a Mitzvah Project for your Bat Mitzvah?
JL: I was really proud that I was able to collect as much yarn and knitting patterns and supplies as I did, as well as raising some money through a bake sale. It made me feel like I could make a difference. Later, Linda sent me a photo of the women knitting and told me how important my contribution was so I really felt a part of things and understood what my project meant.
MM: How did you go about actually collecting the knitting supplies?
JL: We sent out emails to everyone we knew and asked the class parents at our Temple to send an email to every classmate. We had days where the drop box at the Temple was set up so that people knew when they could drop off their old yarn. The collection part of the project lasted about 3 or 4 months.
We would like to thank Julia for sharing her project with Mitzvah Market!
