Following the huge success of last year’s Kindness Blossoms initiative, we are thrilled to invite the entire community to join us as we announce and celebrate the winners of this year’s kindness contest.
A project of the Meaningful Life Center, the Yocheved Gourarie Kindness Award was initiated to celebrate the acts of kindness that create a culture of empathy and support within the Crown Heights community.
Now in its 4th year, this incredible initiative has, Boruch Hashem, grown tremendously! Schools, teachers — and especially the students — were actively involved in spreading awareness and kindness.
Over the past few months, nominations poured in for incredible teachers and classmates who had great impact and life-changing kindness toward their students and friends; educators who were thoughtful and present in the moments of silence, pain, transition and growth, friends who recognized a crying soul and reached out. We were humbled and touched by these amazing individuals and their stories.
And now it’s time to celebrate kindness, announce the winners and present them with well deserved monetary prizes!
The program will include personal words from Yocheved’s parents, Avremi and Dini Gourarie. This year we will also have the privilege to hear from a leading expert in his field, Sony Pearlman on the topic of There is No Growth without Kindness. This will be followed by the highly anticipated announcement of this year’s kindness winners – a Rabbi, a Morah and 6 classmates. The program will close out with an inspirational and take-away message from Rabbi Simon Jacobson.
We hope to see you all there, as together we immortalize the life and legacy of Yocheved Gourarie by honoring the special individuals within our community, people who go above and beyond to save one soul at a time – and by saving one soul, they are saving the world.
“I often forget this, but we are social creatures leaning on each other to survive and, more importantly, thrive. We need community, we need support, we need love and compassion and acceptance.”
-Yocheved Gourarie
The event will also be live-streamed on June 9.

Mazel Tov to the winners! Every year the YG kindness award gets better and better! I’m so glad to see kindness being spread and recognized!! Baruch Hashem!