Repair the World Pittsburgh ceases operations, encourages volunteers to continue bettering community
'There's people in the community who can help you, and maybe it's not us this time, but someone will want to help you do that'
After 10 years and thousands of engagements, Repair the World ended its staff-led operations in Pittsburgh on June 14.
The move followed a new strategic plan from the national organization, former Pittsburgh Director Jules Mallis said.
Before its close, Pittsburgh was one of 13 communities nationwide with a local staff-led presence.
Though members of the Pittsburgh contingent were saddened by the announcement, Mallis pointed to a decade’s worth of communal betterment and encouraged residents to continue those efforts.
“For us, it’s about how do we make sure there’s continuity in the work — that the legacy does not just abruptly end but that those relationships we’ve built, and the deep partnerships we’ve built and been part of, really allow the work to continue,” Mallis said.
Since launching in 2013, Pittsburgh Repair has partnered with more than 35,000 volunteers to contribute 73,067 acts of service and learning. Collectively, more than 73,500 hours of service and learning were performed, the organization’s officials said.
A three-year strategic plan, announced last month, seeks to engage more than 100,000 individuals annually as well as “scale the Jewish service movement.”
Described as an “aspirational blueprint,” the plan stemmed from “14 years of learning and evaluation,” national Repair’s President and CEO Cindy Greenberg and Board Chair Robb Lippitt said in a prepared statement.
“It focuses our work on activating the Jewish community in service by expanding our field activation work and refining our programming in communities,” they continued. “It also affirms our aspiration to be a movement builder, not just a program provider.”
The national organization hopes to embed a “Powered by Repair” partnership model in more than three communities.
According to the plan, the model would enable a full-time staff member in a local Jewish organization to receive “coaching, resources, and support from Repair the World on Jewish service learning best practices [and] implement a robust calendar of Jewish service learning programs.”
For more than a decade, Pittsburgh Repair engaged residents in service learning projects.
Mallis pointed to the group’s decade-long partnership with the Sheridan Avenue Orchard and Garden.
Thanks to staffers and volunteers, “we created a physical learning classroom for people in the community to come together and learn about environmental and food justice through a Jewish service learning lens,” Mallis said. This work also led to “distributing fresh produce to the East End Cooperative Ministry Food Pantry.”
Annie Dunn, former program manager at Pittsburgh Repair, said it’s important that Pittsburghers continue that work.
“We have been such an asset to our partner organizations,” she said. “We don’t want them to feel the loss of our organization. We want these organizations to still feel supported by the people that have been supporting them for years.”
Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, credited Pittsburgh Repair with forging meaningful bonds across the area.
In recent years, as a lead-up to and immediately following Oct. 27, the Healing Partnership and Pittsburgh Repair partnered to support Jewish learning, service and community through the 10.27 Days of Service program.
Thanks to these efforts, volunteers have driven AgeWell members to the community commemoration, created art for the ceremony and for Achieva, beautified outdoor spaces, packed care kits for Global Links and learned storytelling advocacy with CeaseFire PA and Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence.
Every year, Pittsburgh Repair identified “service sites that were thoughtful and relevant to the 10/27 story,” Feinstein said. “In 2020, they had to think creatively with regards to social distancing. They did, and every year since they have continued to be innovative and thoughtful.”
Although Repair Pittsburgh formally ceased operations, Feinstein said she plans to continue the model of building new relationships and partners across the community, while facilitating Jewish reflections, during this year’s Days of Service.
Thanks to Pittsburgh Repair, numerous volunteers have enriched local life. Dunn hopes that continues.
“There’s the ripple effect of when somebody gets engaged in service and that gives them a sense of purpose, it gives them a sense of meaning,” she said. “They feel more fulfilled, and they’re more likely to start a conversation with a neighbor or pass on that kindness.
The vast benefits of volunteering include higher happiness levels, enhanced mental well-being and lower blood pressure, according to researchers from the University of Maryland Medical System.
Especially in a “challenging world,” there’s a tendency to isolate, but volunteering can offer not only aid but a personal spark, Dunn said.
“It is so important that we reach out to each other in any capacity,” Mallis said. “If you want to build that community garden outside your synagogue with your young students, or something else, you can still do that. There’s people in the community who can help you, and maybe it’s not us this time, but someone will want to help you do that. You never know what happens when you reach out or when you show up.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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