Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

"You can be pushing a cart around the Home for Jewish Parents, doing total drudgery work," says 16-year-old Matthew Kessler, "and then one of the residents stops you. They'll tell you that they really enjoy having you there, and it just makes your whole day worthwhile."

Kessler, who lives near the Oakland seniors' home, says that it's great to be helping out "people who sometimes go unnoticed in our community."

Having started volunteering at the residence as part of a community service project for high school, Kessler decided that he would stay on after his project ended. He even encouraged friends to go along with him to the Home to play checkers, clean up or just "sit down and relate to people."

Kessler is one of the many volunteers who have passed through the Volunteer Action Center, a project of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.

Initiated in September 1995, VAC has now placed more than 100 individuals or groups with needy organizations. Volunteers run the gamut from teenagers to retirees, from single professionals to families.

"We try to match people where their passions, skills and gifts come together," says Ilana Schatz, who coordinates volunteers for VAC.

Schatz is never happier than when she can find the perfect match between a volunteer and an organization. She cites the case of a woman who came to VAC with experience in drug counseling, but who had not yet received her license.

The woman was able to volunteer in a community recovery house in Oakland where "her level of certification was appropriate."

Jack Stringburger, a market targeting manager at Irwin Home Equity in San Ramon, says he was looking for an opportunity "to use my unique skills, and to get involved in the community." He was matched with Jewish Family and Children's Services of the East Bay, which needed help with direct mailings.

"I was able to help them analyze responses by zip codes and design a campaign," says Stringburger. "I'm very used to doing that kind of stuff, so it was easy."

And there was teenager Robert Reffkin, who came in to VAC with a love for Jewish and Israeli music.

The East Bay's Center for Jewish Living and Learning was about to hold its huge King David's Fair, and Reffkin was hired on the spot as a DJ. "He had a lot of his friends come along, and they all had a great time," says Schatz. "It was a win-win situation."

Every two months or so, VAC holds "Helping Hands: Mitzvot in Action" days, often in conjunction with other agencies. These day-long events are the perfect venue for people who would like to be involved in volunteer work, but who can't commit to an ongoing project.

Last September, over 800 people took part in a Helping Hands project that VAC organized jointly with Temple Isaiah of Contra Costa County in Lafayette. On March 30th, there will be a mini Helping Hand Day with the Federation's Young Jewish Alliance, in which newly-arrived Russian emigre teenagers will be taken bowling and for pizza.

Sometimes a volunteer might have plenty of time, but an organization doesn't have the resources to train that volunteer effectively. Sandy Curtis, VAC's lay chairperson, says that one of VAC's priorities for next year will be "helping Jewish agencies who need volunteers, but don't have the staff to oversee and train them."

Curtis adds that VAC has formed a partnership with Community Impact, a Peninsula-based nonprofit. "It's important for us that the general community sees that Jews are involved in social action," she says.

The teens in Erin Graff's 7th grade Mitvot program certainly took their talents far and wide. As part of their B'nai Mitzvot preparation, the teens did everything from cleaning up the shoreline to collecting towels for a homeless shelter.

"They really learned what it is to perform a mitzvah," says Graff, who develops youth programs at Berkeley's Congregation Beth El.

She goes on to say that she and the teens were initially puzzled when they were asked to collect towels.

"We thought they'd want canned goods, or clothing," she says, "so we were surprised. But what we all realized is that community service means providing what the community needs, not what you think they might want."