J-Serve 2007 Projects

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2007 Projects Listings

Arizona

Phoenix
Jayme David; Raphael Landesman
Jdavid@jewishphoenix.org; rlandesman@aztorah.com

The Phoenix J-Serve group is planning a carnival for Jewish children and young adults with special needs. They will work very closely with the Council for Jews with Special Needs in planning this event. Approximately 100 participants with special needs will attend and 200 Jewish teenagers will volunteer on the day of the event. The carnival will include games, face painting, arts and crafts, obstacle courses, and other booths similar to those found at a Purim carnival. The event will accomplish a number of goals: it will provide a wonderful experience for the children and young adults with special needs and will provide an opportunity for the typical Jewish teens to interact and become more comfortable in the presence of the children and young adults with special needs.


California

Los Angeles
Shauna Naghi, The One Nation project
Shaunaghi@yahoo.com

The Los Angeles service learning project will revolve around hunger and hunger prevention. Teens will be provided with the option of volunteering at one of two food banks in the morning. Before they start, a food bank employee will gives a brief introduction to what food banks are, how they work, and what they do. After the service project is completed, everyone will return to the starting location for a hunger banquet which will give the participants a more tangible idea of hunger issues in the Jewish community. Additional information on what can be done after J-Serve to help the hungry in the Jewish community in Los Angeles and Israel will be distributed. .

San Diego
Mickie Targum; Stav Cohen mickie@ajesd.org; stavc@lfjcc.com

The Jewish Teen Leaders Fellowship in San Diego is planning their service learning project for J-Serve 2007. The students have plans for a number of programs, specifically, to assemble wheelchairs for disable individuals in under-developed countries; gather food to bring to low-income military service men, women and their families; and bring Israel awareness and cheer to the Jewish elderly in San Diego.


Colorado

Denver
David Adelstein
marty@zimconsulting.net; rmrbbyo.org;
Formal Title: 2007 Mitzvahpalooza

Program explanation:

Approximately 200 teens in and around the metropolitan Denver area will engage in a day of community service on Sunday, April 22, 2007. The teens will be involved in hand-on service projects at local area non-profits in the morning and then will reconvene for an inspirational luncheon/keynote address by a young adult who is making a difference in helping the world by using his Jewish values. This keynote will be followed by breakout sessions at which the teens will develop individualized and personal plans on ways that they can each make a difference in their community and the world. The teens will be guided by many of the top Jewish educators in Denver, and the program will include representation from every movement and type of Jew, from unaffiliated to Orthodox.


Connecticut

Stamford
Kari Pollack,
kpollack@stamfordjcc.org

The Stamford J-Serve project will offer Jewish teens the opportunity to provide a needed direct service in a number of fields. Teens will begin the day at the JCC with an interactive program led by our Jewish educator, Robert Abrams, on the Jewish tradition of volunteerism. The teens will then be provided with the opportunity to choose which service project they want to attend. Project include: arts & crafts projects and games with the children residing at St. Luke’s Lifework’s family shelter; teaching seniors how to navigate the internet at Fairfield Jewish Home for the Elderly; leading and organizing BINGO games with the residents and their families at Liberation House/Liberation Programs, a residence for those recovering from substance abuse; collecting litter and trash at local parks; organizing food donations and stocking shelves at the Stamford Food Bank and at a kosher food bank at Jewish Family Services and more. The project will be a collaborative effort of the 11 Jewish organizations comprising the Teen Professional Council of Stamford and Greenwich, CT.


District of Columbia

Washington, D.C.
Maggie Shapiro; Meredith Gettys
maggie.shapiro@shalomdc.org; meredithg@jccnv.org

The Washington DC Jewish Teen Leaders Fellowship, a teen led committee, will be working with Behrend Builders and the DC Public School system for their J-Serve 2007 service learning project. Behrend Builders is a volunteer program that works to repair, renovate and rebuild Washington D.C. Volunteers will be working to rehabilitate a playground at a D.C. school in need. In addition, volunteers will conduct various other renovation projects as the school requires. The goal is to improve an educational facility for children, thereby enhancing their learning experience. The entire group will work together at one site to empower each other to achieve this goal. The lasting impact on this school and the surrounding community will be highly beneficial and much appreciated. The teens will connect with part of Washington D.C.’s underprivileged community and will make a lasting contribution to the school and its environment.

Florida

Miami
Alyson Adler; Noah Lang
alsyn1@aol.com; noachl@hotmail.com


Louisiana

New Orleans
Gail Chalew
chalewzim@bellsouth.net

Official Title: J-Serve 2007: Livnot New Orleans

The breaching of the levees by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 set off a chain reaction of events that turned upside down the lives of every New Orleans Jewish teen. J-Serve 2007 Livnot New Orleans will give Jewish teens an opportunity not only to connect with each other but also participate in a meaningful way in the rebuilding of their community. The teens will work in partnership with the Broadmoor Improvement Association (BIA), which has received national attention for its energetic planning efforts in restoring its community that was flooded by four to eight feet of water. The teens will do a landscaping/beautification project at Broadmoor's Rosa Keller Library, which BIA envisages will serve as a neighborhood community center. They will also participate in home gutting and renovation. This work will be the beginning of a long-term partnership between the Jewish teen community and the BIA.


Maryland

Baltimore
Rachel Wisdom
rwisdom@associated.org

Baltimore’s service learning project will be a collaborative effort between Jewish Volunteer Connection, the JCC of Greater Baltimore, and Beth El Congregation. The majority of the projects will take place in Baltimore’s Reservoir Hill neighborhood, a diverse neighborhood that has recently begun significant revitalization, due to the strength of its neighborhood association. Service projects will include the removal of garbage from abandoned lots, creation of community gardens, and construction of green spaces for the community, thereby helping to beautify the area while also converting abandoned and often dangerous lots into beautiful and useful neighborhood assets. The work that volunteers and neighbors will accomplish by working together will create tangible benefits for the neighborhood and, once the service projects are completed, the neighbors will be able to sustain and build upon the work that was done for the benefit of the whole community. The development of community gardens and parks will also encourage community building among the diverse residents of Reservoir Hill.


Michigan

Detroit/Ann-Arbor
Emily Wein; Brooke Lieberman

Official Title: Jserve 2007::Friendship Park

Jserve teens will build an outdoor sensory park for the special needs children that go to the Friendship Circle, in West Bloomfield, MI. A swing set will allow participants to engage in healthy and fun activities. It will also build trust building between the teen volunteers and the children with special needs. A garden will be a full sensory tool that can be used during the warmer months, and a bird watching and feeding tower to attract sound.


New York

Westchester, NY
Barry Salter; Abbe Marcus; Debby Smith
barrys@bjeny.org; MarcusA@bjeny.org; SmithD@bjeny.org

Official Title: GREENING WESTCHESTER—ONE MITZVAH AT A TIME

In a countywide effort under the umbrella of the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York’s Westchester Center, local youth groups are working together on an environmentally focused J-Serve project for the National Day of Jewish Youth Service (Sunday, April 22). Participants include: B’nai B’rith Youth Organization Westchester Region, J-Teen of UJA-Federation of New York – Westchester, Rosenthal JCC, JCC of Mid-Westchester, USY METNY Koach Division, and the Tikkun Olam Corps of Westchester Jewish Community Services.

A cadre of involved Jewish teens from these organizations is serving as a leadership team, actively guiding every phase of the planning and assuming responsibility for many aspects of the project’s implementation. BJE staff together with youth group leaders are supporting the teens and providing them with educational resources and logistical backing. Called “Greening Westchester—One Mitzvah at a Time,” the initiative seeks to provide teens with an opportunity to take action against environmental problems confronting our world; highlight the connections between Judaism and environmental consciousness; and inspire affiliated and unaffiliated Jewish teens to get involved.

On Saturday, April 14, J-Serve teen leaders have planned a motivational night to raise awareness among their peers on the dangers of Global Warming. To be held at the JCC of Mid-Westchester, the program will consist of a havdallah service; the screening of the movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” that deals directly with this issue; and a teen-led panel discussing environmental issues and Judaism. This night will help prepare and encourage maximum participation for the Sunday, April 22nd environmentally-focused J-Serve Day, when an estimated 150 teens will come together for a day of clean up and planting in Croton Park along the Hudson River.


Ohio

Cleveland
Jason Stone; Elyse Willen
jstone@ttti.org; edwillen@adelphia.net

Cleveland’s service learning project will be organized by the Jewish Teen Leaders Fellowship in the area. Everyone will begin the day at the JCC with a short introduction for the day and an opening mention of some text and ideas that we would like the participants to think about throughout the day. Service activities will start with a fundraising car wash for an organization in Israel and letter writing to Israeli soldiers. The letter writing and car wash will demonstrate and encourage support for Israel, as well as bring the teens together. Although the car wash, letter writing, and other service activities will continue all day long at the JCC, some of the participants will be bussed to our downtown location after about an hour at the JCC. At the downtown location, we will be cleaning up a park as well as feeding and interacting with the homeless in our city. We envision our day of physical and emotional enlightenment to conclude at The Temple-Tifereth Israel with a small thank you reception, reflection discussion, and community-wide Yom HaShoa service and memorial ceremony.


Pennsylvania

Philadelphia,
Jennifer Arney; Samantha Papurt;
phillyaza32@aol.com; spapurt@jrf.org

Philadelphia’s service learning project will focus on the issue of hunger and poverty. They will address the issue by having groups of teens do one of several service projects: volunteering at a soup kitchen, physically cleaning up an impoverished area, lobbying to raise the poverty line through a letter writing campaign, visiting the underprivileged elderly, and interacting with underprivileged children. They want to empower people to help themselves. Community members living in these poverty-stricken areas will be included and invited to work beside them and hopefully inspire them to continue helping themselves, which will ultimately result in continuous improvement of these areas. After the participants complete their service projects, everyone will join together again for experiential and engaging reflection through a Jewish lens.

Pittsburgh
Lauren Mendelson
ruby2lm@verizon.net

Official Title: J-serve Pittsburgh: Yad byad (Hand in hand)

More than 200 Jewish teens in the Pittsburgh area will gather at the Jewish Community Center on April 22, 2007 to donate their time to those less fortunate. The teens will discuss the importance of community service with local politicians and relate their service to their Jewish values in small teen-led groups. The volunteers will then be bussed from the JCC to a school in an at-risk community where they will plant, mentor, paint, clean, tutor, and more. The day will wrap up with an end-of-the-day party at the JCC which will include music, slideshows, and refreshments.


Texas

Houston
Robin Sheldon; Lewis Sohinki;
rsheldon@bethyeshurun.org; lsohinki@jcchouston.org

Houston’s service learning project will be organized by the participants in the Jewish Teen Leaders Fellowship. The day will begin at the JCC Merfish Teen Center with an introductory program to J-Serve and the day’s activities. Teens will be sent to volunteer with different organizations around the city (specifics to be decided). Teens will return to the JCC for a reflection program, BBQ and social event to end the day.

San Antonio
Rachel Rustin, Coordinator of Youth and Family Services
rustinr@jcc-sa.org

The San Antonio Jewish community’s service-learning project will pair local Jewish teens with participants from our Inclusion Program and from the Association of Retarded Citizens of San Antonio (ARC) for a day of learning and service. Jewish teens will be converging on the San Antonio Jewish Community Center on April 22 for the city’s first J-Serve. They will spend the afternoon volunteering with participants from the Association for Retarded Citizens – San Antonio at sites such as the San Antonio Food Bank. With participants from all of the city’s youth groups, the day promises to be rewarding for both the participants and the community.


Washington

Seattle
Matt Lemchen; Tzachi Litov
mattl@egrbbyo.org; tzachi@h-nt.org

The Seattle Jewish Teen Leaders Fellowship is planning their J-Serve project to work with different shelters and clinics that serve the homeless in the greater Seattle area to help make a significant difference in the lives of a broad range of homeless individuals and families. Participants will be divided into 6-8 groups and will be transported by bus to individual sites throughout the greater Seattle area. Service sites are yet to be confirmed, but will likely include: the 45th Street Clinic, Gospel Union Mission, Jewish Family Services, Kirkland Teen Center, Boom Town Café, and Tree House. The teens will be educated about the work of these organizations and will have the chance to participate and volunteer at the site. Each participant will receive contact information for the service site they attended, to allow them the chance to pursue further involvement.