PHOTOS: Bnos Spreads Purim Cheer And Fun To All Generations

[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

From their annual Mishloach Manos Campaign to Bnos One-on-One Purim events across the country, Bnos Agudas Yisroel of America celebrated the holiday of Purim with chesed and fun.

For most, Purim means visits from friends and delicious treats. For the elderly in nursing homes, who receive few, if any visits, and who often cannot enjoy the goodies because of dietary restrictions, the enjoyment of Purim can get lost. That’s where the girls from Bnos Agudas Yisroel come in, with the organization’s annual Mishloach Manos Campaign.

This year, in a beautiful display of achdus and chesed, high school girls from 17 schools, 6th graders from Brooklyn Bnos and 4th graders from Lakewood Bnos participated. They packed sugar-free hamentashen and chocolates in their schools, and then delivered them to 25 nursing homes. The smiles and laughter of the Bnos girls were even sweeter than the packages they carried so proudly.

A special thank you is owed to participating schools and to the Agudist Benevolent Society, which sponsors the Bnos Bikur Cholim program in which high school girls make regular visits to nursing home seniors and to the homebound. The program encourages Bnos girls to realize how much they can do to ease the pain of others and helps to alleviate the loneliness of the seniors.

The Purim celebrations did not stop there. The “little sisters” who participate in Bnos One on One, a project of Bnos Agudas Yisroel sponsored by The Center for Jewish Family Life, came in for their share of it. Chapters from Baltimore, Brooklyn, Denver, Far Rockaway, Lakewood and Monsey held exciting events, such as a carnival, a mishloach manos exchange and dancing. Big and Little Sisters got into the spirit of things, enjoying the activities and the special camaraderie that characterize the program.

“Fun-filled activities in a Torah environment – that’s always been the hallmark of Bnos,” says Mrs. Chana Baila Hass, director of Bnos Agudas Yisroel of America. “Packaging the mishloach manos was fun for the girls, proof that chesed and good times go together, and proof even a high school girl can really help others. And the Bnos One on One programs keep on proving that one on one, every single girl can make a difference.”