RECIPIENT OF
THE 2026 PRESIDENT’S PRIZE FOR VOLUNTEERISM
Experience Can Strengthen Israel
A year of service. A community to call home.
A lifetime of experience put to work.
Shnat Sherut 50+ brings experienced adults over 50 from Israel and around the world to live and serve in communities across Israel’s north and south, contributing their professional skills where they are needed most.
What is Shnat Sherut 50+?
Shnat Sherut 50+ turns two challenges into one shared opportunity.
Across Israel’s north and south, communities face shortages of experienced professionals in education, healthcare, welfare, mental health and community leadership. These gaps existed before October 7; the war deepened them and increased the need for long-term professional capacity.
At the same time, adults over 50 hold decades of knowledge, skills and experience, and many are looking for meaningful ways to continue contributing.
Shnat Sherut 50+ brings these two needs together. We match experienced adults with communities that need their expertise, enabling them to live and serve there for a full year.
This Is Not a Volunteer Visit
A year, not a week.
Residents, not visitors.
Expertise, not goodwill.
Our volunteers become part of the communities they serve.
They bring professional expertise matched to real local needs, build relationships that develop over time, and provide the continuity that short-term volunteering cannot.
The goal is not simply to help today.
It is to leave communities stronger for tomorrow.
One Year. Measurable Impact.
67
volunteers across four regional councils
in 2025–26
81,606
hours of
professional service
NIS 17.1 million
in professional human
capital delivered
11:1
value of professional services delivered
for every NIS 1 invested
What Changes When Experience Arrives?
Shnat Sherut 50 Plus mobilizes experienced professionals – educators, trauma specialists, social workers, community builders – to bring their skills where they are needed most.
A wounded soldier manages his pain.
At Adi Negev, Shiatsu therapist Malka Beinhorn worked with wounded soldiers through rehabilitation.
“It reduces the pain, and I am able to function better throughout the day.”
A man finds his voice again.
After losing his speech following a stroke, one participant in Merav Livni’s weekly group had relied on his phone to communicate. He later spoke to the group unaided for fifteen minutes.
Students discover what they can achieve.
After intensive mathematics support from Shnat Sherut 50+ volunteers, students who had been struggling achieved grades in the 80s and 90s.
Volunteer in Israel
Your experience could be exactly what a community needs.
Shnat Sherut 50+ offers adults over 50 from Israel and around the world the opportunity to spend a year putting their experience to work in Israel.
Our volunteers include educators, healthcare and mental health professionals, managers, community leaders, technology specialists, artists, engineers and people from many other professional backgrounds.
You don’t come simply to visit or help for a few days. You become part of a community, contribute the skills you have built over a lifetime and work alongside the people who live there.
In 2025–26, our volunteers had an average age of 66.9. One in three was over 70.
Experience has no retirement age.
From Recovery to Resilience
Shnat Sherut 50+ began as an emergency response following October 7. It has grown into something more: a long-term model for strengthening communities through experienced human capital.
In 2026-27, we expect 80-90 volunteers serving across six councils. By 2027-28, we aim to reach 120+ volunteers across eight councils.
Growth is not the ambition. It is a response to demand we cannot currently meet.
Since October 7th, communities across Israel have been left devastated and understaffed. Families are struggling. Schools are stretched thin. Healthcare centers are overwhelmed. But our volunteers are making a difference.
A local resident.
Experience. Service. Resilience.
Israel has always been strengthened by people willing to serve.
Shnat Sherut 50+ makes it possible for a generation with decades of knowledge and experience to play its part strengthening communities while finding new purpose through service.
Every NIS 100 = One Day of Community Impact
News & Stories
At a time when many Israeli communities face significant challenges, the expertise of seasoned professionals is a game-changer.
Shnat Sherut 50 Plus is the first national service model for mid-life and retired professionals, enabling them to dedicate a full year to strengthening Israel’s most vulnerable regions.
