Give It Away #7 Tzedakah Starstruck Some people like to tour L.A. with a map of the homes of Hollywood stars and gawk at them from the side of the street. Other people spend their summer vacations on the professional sports circuit, following their favorite baseball team from city to city, stadium to stadium. Heck, there's even people that will pay good money to spend a week cruising the Caribbean with the members of R.E.O. Speedwagon! But it turns out there is another kind of creature, a charity-head: someone who travels to the other side of the world to be inspired by Mitzvah superstars. I'm talking about a coordinated Israel travel plan that includes personal meetings with the movers and shakers in the world of philanthropy. Not the deep-pocket cheque-writers, mind you, but the crusty-sleeved nuts-and-bolts people on the ground. These sweaty-brow stained-shirt humble mitzvah-makers are the benevolent backbone of the nonprofit world. They may not make the cover of Time Magazine, but they're quietly racking up the most amount of karma points. And if you want to get galvanized to do good deeds, greater deeds, then these are your men and women. Whether you've got a fat cheque to write off and you're looking for a worthy candidate but you want to confirm it in person; or whether you're addicted to Tzedakah and get your kicks by hearing first-person accounts; maybe the next time you book a family trip to Israel, you might consider a "benefaction-adventure" vacation. Give yourself the gift of visiting the people that keep on giving. I cannot say anything specific about Arnie Draiman or any of the other tour group organizers that provide similar services, since I've never joined one of these junkets. But it sounds like a great way to tour the country. One of the people that you might meet on a Tzedakah Adventure is Libby Reichman, the founder-director of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Israel. They also work with JGooders to raise funds for their important programs. But to be fair, I'm sure that you could arrange to meet any number of visionary "Mitzvah Mavens". Tours can be tailored to fit your special interests, so you can meet the men and women that are making a difference in "your" specific niche of the Mitzvah marketplace. A simple web search should turn up the info you're looking for. Good luck and happy travels!