WORKING TO REPAIR THE WORLD THROUGH ACTS OF SERVICE

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Jonathan Arogeti. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

From his home base in Atlanta to islands off the coast of Africa, Jonathan Arogeti’s mission is to help others. A returned Peace Corps volunteer, Jonathan is a dedicated member of Repair the World, an organization that mobilizes Jews and their communities to take action to pursue a just world. In his early days of volunteering with the organization’s Atlanta chapter, you could find Jonathan tackling tasks ranging from working on a farm to sorting reading material for a book drive. Since then, he’s risen in the ranks, but remains dedicated to the organization’s principal goal of building thriving communities around the country.

A founding member of Repair the World’s Atlanta Advisory Board, Jonathan was asked to join Repair the World’s National Advisory Board in August of 2024 after several years of working with the organization. While the governance role is a bit different from the work he started out doing, it’s vital to the organization’s livelihood. A member of the group’s development and finance committees, Jonathan says the bigger picture is about being a cheerleader for the organization on a local and national level. Clearly, the mission is working.

Last year, Repair the World mobilized 1,792 participants to complete 3,209 acts of service and learning just in Atlanta. Nationwide, the organization mobilized 133,145 participants to 218,721 acts of service and learning. Jonathan’s dedication to the cause is an example of how volunteering can transform a community, no matter the setting. Simple acts of service work as motivators to encourage others to get out there and do the same, and the endeavor quickly spreads around the world.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Repair the World.

Repair the World is the Jewish service movement in this country. When Repair was just starting in Atlanta around 2017, I was a volunteer at different events with a clipboard, passing out name tags, gloves and shovels. If we were at a debris cleanup activity, I was passing out trash bags. From there, I was the initial co-chair of the Atlanta Advisory Council, serving as a sounding board to the city director, helping to get connections with funders and helping them recruit volunteers. Now, I’m a member of the National Board of Directors and serve in a governance role. We support the organization with its programming and oversee the budget and executive director.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

I grew up volunteering. I came from a family where volunteering was important. In 2015 and 2016 I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I did a posting in Mali in 2015 and a posting in Comoros in 2016. When I came back stateside, Repair the World had already existed as an organization nationally and they were beginning to think about expanding into Atlanta. Several people I respect said Repair sits at the intersection of my Jewish values and my American national service ethos, and recommended I get involved.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

The board, the staff and the volunteers have a goal to reach 1 million acts of service and learning by 2030. An act of service and learning is a metric that we have. With each service activity, there’s an element of Jewish learning in the event. For example, what does Judaism say about the issue that we’re confronting in volunteer service? We’re all laser-focused on this 1 million by 2030 goal.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

I was particularly proud during COVID-19 when we were one of the top cities for what was then the initial Service Corps. That started during the COVID-19 pandemic and was taking advantage of a time and a place where some people had extra time and resources that they could make available to support others. On the flip side, some people had hugely increased needs because of what the pandemic was causing. That was when we developed the Service Corps. It wasn’t a once-a-year type of thing. How do you do something in between a five or 10-hour-a-week commitment extended over weeks and months? Seeing that succeed and becoming such a core of what Repair the World does nationwide now is something that brings me a lot of joy.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

It’s helped me learn how to listen to the leadership at the organization and try to figure out the appropriate ways to help somebody. That’s something that’s not just important for the board of this organization, but how we view volunteering more broadly. A lot of volunteering is really about what the volunteer gets out of that experience. I think we’re at a time and place where we need to be thinking about what volunteering means for the person being served. It’s good that I’m learning that lesson being on the board.

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day in this country has become a big focal point of volunteerism. We have created something called the National Days of Jewish Service, which takes place all through April. What we’re doing is supporting more than 5,000 volunteers to complete an act of service and learning in communities across the country. We are organizing events around the country in April, and we are supporting people from all over the country who want to create their own volunteer service event during the National Days of Jewish Service.

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?

People can look hyper-locally. They can look at the block they live on – there might be a child in their community who has a particular need and might benefit from support. Look at your own place of worship, for example. There are always seniors in that community who might need a sort of companion, somebody to sit with them once a week or once a month. Look locally into spaces where you’re already existing, and try to help somebody in those spaces first.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

There are a lot of different ways of volunteering. Something I have come to appreciate is that a lot of people have different strengths, and volunteering relies on people using their strengths for a good cause or a good purpose. That’s the main point of what people can get out of it.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Jonathan? Find local volunteer opportunities.