Members of Harrow's synagogues joined thousands of Jewish volunteers to celebrate Mitzvah Day on Sunday.
Working with Northwood's Orthodox synagogue, Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles, of Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue called on Jews of all denominations, as well as non-Jews from across the borough, to spend time supporting local charities.
Mitzvah Day is a Jewish celebration which means good deed day and from 9.45am people undertook a range of projects including recycling discarded goods, establishing nappy banks for unused disposable nappies and provided a CV workshop for the unemployed.
Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles of Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue, said: "Mitzvah Day is about giving not cash but time. It is amazing what a difference we can make to someone else by donating just a few hours.
"In these credit crunch times I know money is tight so why not give something more valuable. People gave up just a couple of hours of their time to help those less fortunate than themselves."
Meanwhile students from the synagogue's Kabala Torah class teamed up with the local Roman Catholic Parish's confirmation class to ask shoppers at Waitrose in Northwood to add just one item to their shopping lists to be donated as a contribution to homeless people in the borough.
Year five pupils from Edgware and District Reform Synagogue packed toys for charity Barnardo's and wrote 'thank you' letters to Jewish soldiers serving in the British Army.
Meanwhile members of Hatch End's Kol Chai Synagogue donated their time for local, national and international charities as part of 'good deed day'.
Children helped the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum by cleaning up and conserving Stanmore Common. Kol Chai School headteacher Jacky Martin said: "We want to try to enthuse the children and adults in our community to get involved in the physical act of charity. This was a way of getting everyone involved and doing something inspiring and genuinely useful with our Sunday morning rather than sitting at home."
