volunteer spotlight on Natalie Baskin

Read the first in a new series of interviews shining a light on the dedicated volunteers who make The Together Plan and the Jewish Tapestry Project possible.

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”  -Anne Frank

By Jennifer Saber, The Together Plan Heritage Stories Reporter 

“Anybody could be a donor to the charity. You didn’t have to have any money. Everybody has a used teapot or a sweater that’s still in good condition, but it doesn’t fit anymore. You’ve either grown ten pounds or lost twenty pounds, you know what I mean? There was always a way of donating. And that was how I felt. And what it does, it gives the Jewish community, everybody in the Jewish community, an opportunity to contribute to their heritage….That was why I felt so committed to it.” For Natalie Baskin, a longtime volunteer with The Together Plan’s Aid Together Project, that conviction is what has kept her deeply committed to the organisation’s work for over a decade.

discovering The Together Plan

Natalie joined The Together Plan in 2015, along with two other women she had previously volunteered with on an aid project serving Eastern Europe. When that earlier effort came to an end due to a bureaucratic glitch, they were not ready to stop. “You don’t give up just because you’ve had, you know, a problem.” They knew there was still a need, and through one of the women in the group, they found Debra Brunner.

By that point, Debra had already begun building what would become The Together Plan. Natalie explained that Debra had been travelling to Belarus with her daughter and a team of young people to run summer camps and help bring Jewish life back into communities where so much had been lost, “to bring Judaism back into the fold of the Belarusians”. Her focus, Natalie said, was to “start with the kids. Teach them and educate the parents”, and help educate and strengthen the wider community through them.

beyond the donation bags

For many of us who know the Aid Together Project from the donor side, it was both fascinating and deeply moving to hear Natalie describe the behind-the-scenes work that has sustained and shaped the project over the years. Having watched it grow firsthand, she offered a vivid glimpse into the practical, often unseen labour that makes its impact possible.

In the beginning, the operation was remarkably humble. It started on the second floor of a synagogue, where, as Natalie recalled, “we had to carry all our bags of donations up three flights of stairs, and all our sorted bags back down those very same stairs.” From those early days, the project relied on volunteers’ determination and willingness to pitch in wherever needed.

The donations themselves arrived through a variety of methods. Sometimes volunteers received phone calls asking them to pick things up in their own vehicles. Other times, bags were dropped off on their closed porches. The team collected clothing, household goods, Judaica, and even items from house clearances after a parent or spouse had died. Everything was then brought to a central location, where it could be carefully inspected, sorted and prepared.

At the central collection point, the choreography of the real work began.  Large white postal sacks lined the walls, each designated for a specific category: women’s clothing, men’s clothing, children’s clothing by age, seasonal items, and larger sizes, all carefully separated and labelled. Household goods and Judaica were sorted as well. Only clean, usable items were sent onward. Towels, sheets, duvets, and every piece of clothing were inspected before being packed. As Natalie put it simply, “We sort, we collect, we sort, and we repack.”

Listening to Natalie, it became clear that this work has always been about far more than logistics. Behind every packed sack is a community of volunteers giving their time, energy, and care to help others with dignity. “We’ve been doing that from the start,” she said, a simple but powerful reminder of the selfless commitment that has shaped the project from the beginning.

a journey to Belarus

A major turning point in Natalie’s experience came in 2016, when she travelled to Belarus on an eight-day mission with The Together Plan. For Natalie, the trip was eye-opening. It brought her face to face with the devastation left by the Holocaust in Belarus and with the ways memory still lives in the landscape.

She spoke about memorials that left a lasting impression and about seeing firsthand the scale of destruction suffered by both Jewish communities and Belarus more broadly during the war. One site in particular stayed with her: a memorial built on the remains of a destroyed village, where each house was marked by a stone wall and chimney with a bell on top, with ashes at the base and the bells tolling every thirty seconds. This was Khatyn. The experience was overwhelming and deeply instructive. It underscored the extent of the loss and helped her understand, in a more personal way, why this work matters.

memory and renewal

But Natalie’s visit to Belarus was not only about loss. She also saw signs of Jewish life being rebuilt. She spoke about Shabbat dinners and services in multiple communities, about young people preparing for B’nai Mitzvah, and about weddings that had taken place using ritual items donated through supporters in the UK. These details mattered to her. They were evidence that The Together Plan was not only preserving memory, but also helping nurture Jewish life in the present.

Throughout the interview, Natalie returned again and again to Debra Brunner’s leadership. She described her as “a force on her own” and spoke with amazement about what she had been able to accomplish with limited resources and a volunteer-driven structure. In Natalie’s eyes, the work of The Together Plan has always depended on persistence, relationships, and the refusal to accept that small beginnings must remain small.

why she stayed

For Natalie, the 2016 journey to Belarus connected the practical work of collecting and sorting donations in London with a much larger story of Jewish history, loss, resilience, and renewal in Belarus. It made the mission tangible. The bags packed in borrowed spaces, the countless hours of sorting, and the determination to keep going all became part of something far greater than logistics.

Her story is a reminder that the early days of The Together Plan were built not by large institutions or major campaigns, but by volunteers willing to show up, adapt, and keep going. What began in improvised spaces and through small acts of giving grew into something enduring. And for Natalie Baskin, that has been reason enough to stay committed for more than a decade.

Debra Brunner shared, “Natalie is a truly wonderful volunteer with our Aid Together team and takes her role very seriously. She is immensely invested in the work of the charity and has travelled to Belarus twice to see the charity’s projects on the ground in real time and the impact we are having, and that is extremely meaningful.”

When the conversation turned to what this experience has meant to her personally, Natalie answered with modesty. “I’m not one to promote myself,” she said. But she did share what this work has meant to her. “It has made a big difference to my life,” she said. “Because I feel valued.” She spoke honestly about the hardships that life brings and about how being part of this work has given her a place where she feels “content” and “happy.” Over the past eleven years, The Together Plan has become more than a volunteer commitment. “We’re a family of volunteers,” she said. At the same time, she also spoke candidly about the future and the need for more people to join the work. Her reflections made clear that this work has given back to her even as she has given so much to it. 

learn more about Natalie’s other passion as an experimental expressionist glass artist

As an experimental, expressionist glass artist Natlie’s focus is to introduce an essence of life into her unique creations. Creating functional and decorative glass pieces requires skill, artistry and patience.

The effect of light through glass can be truly magical. Vibrant colour and diverse textures of glass create dynamic results especially as colour is fundamental to how we relate to the world around us. Natalie’s very eclectic work is designed to be both decorative and functional for both the home and garden.

Learn more

Jennifer Saber is our Heritage Stories Reporter and can be reached at [email protected]
Learn more about The Together Plan’s Aid Together Project
Explore volunteer opportunities with The Together Plan