October, 2005

IVDU Returns for Second School Year of Simcha Bag Program

The IVDU’s simcha candy bag program, in which girls with developmental disabilities create decorative bags for festive events, is back for a new term. The bags are prepared by girls in Yachad’s IVDU Vocational High School. IVDU, is a form of the word “work” in Hebrew.

The program experienced great success from sale of the bags last year, with money that was raised being used to support activities of Yachad/NJCD, the Orthodox Union’s agency providing services to people with disabilities.

Yachad, the flagship program of the OU’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities, provides unique social, educational and recreational programs for individuals with learning, developmental and physical disabilities, with the goal of mainstreaming them into the general community. IVDU focuses on teaching students social skills and life skills. Instructors achieve this goal by simulating real life situations that their students will confront once they become independent. The simcha bag venture was created to fulfill this goal, according to Marilyn David, the Director of IVDU.

The simcha bag program is one example of IVDU’s interaction with the larger Jewish community, resulting in frequent work opportunities for the students. “IVDU was created to help young women with disabilities transition into adult life and to prepare them to enter the work force with the greatest degree of independence possible,” emphasized Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, National Director of Yachad/NJCD. “Volunteering their services, including the simcha bag business, is crucial to teaching our students how to function in a work environment.”

The bags have been used at celebrations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, New Jersey, Monsey, Miami Beach, and Silver Springs, MD. In addition to simcha bags, IVDU students stuff envelopes and put labels on mailings for businesses and for wedding and bar/bat mitzvah invitations. They also sort and count tzedakah (charity) money and assemble materials for seminars and other programs.

For more information on IVDU or to order bags, contact Marilyn David at 917-613-5250.

IVDU students display their simcha bag wares.


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The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 409,000 products manufactured in 83 countries around the globe.

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