(Photo by Victoria Pickering)

For those traveling this time of year, 25D means a squished airplane seat. For hundreds of people sticking around, though, D25 is a chance to give back to the community.

Short for December 25th Day of Service, D25 is the largest volunteer event of the year for the Edlavitch D.C. Jewish Community Center. Instead of ordering Chinese food or hunkering down at the movies (or just doing so later in the day), volunteers bring holiday cheer to nursing homes and hospital rooms, serve meals, sing carols, and deliver gifts, among other projects.

“This is an incredibly strong family tradition for many, many families,” says Sonya Weisburd, the D.C. JCC’s associate director of volunteer programs. When they’ve polled volunteers, many said that they’d been coming out for over 10 years—a handful of whom had even crossed the 20-year mark.

In fact, the day of service dates back to 1986, when a group of local Jews wanted to do something meaningful with their day off. Within two years, the group grew to more than 120 volunteers. It also inspired the D.C. JCC to start a division dedicated to community service, which now has three full-time staffers.

On D25’s 30th anniversary, they have slots for nearly 1,000 volunteers across 42 off-site projects and six at their Logan Circle headquarters. “It’s incredible, but the program is almost full,” Weisburd says.

They still have spots for a few dozen people, though. And while registration is closed, would-be volunteers can come to the JCC on Sunday morning, between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m., where they’ll be directed to some of the projects that could use extra hands, like painting the walls of a public school and visiting seniors recuperating from surgery or serious illness. Throughout the day, the JCC is also hosting a blood drive and bone marrow registry.

To participate, volunteers don’t need to be members of the JCC—or even Jewish. Weisburd estimates that only about 60 percent of those who come out for D25 are Jews.

In fact, some Christmas experience could even help. “I could use a Santa or two” for parties in the afternoon, Weisburd says. “Two or three Santas, or elf pairs, we could certainly use.”

To volunteer, head to the JCC’s headquarters (1529 16th St NW) between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. to learn what they can use help with. The blood drive will run from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and the bone marrow registry from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., both also at the headquarters. There is a $20 registration fee, 100 percent of which is used to fund the volunteer programming.