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Left: Dave Geringer works on
the siding on the first home.

Below: Men at work: Josh
Berg, Ari Breshgold and Ryan
Vieder work on the frame.

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Ten Adat
Shalom students
use their time
off to make
a difference.

LONNY GOLDSMITH

StaffWriter

T

he much anticipated
February vacation gives
high school students the
opportunity to get out of
town or stay home and enjoy the week
off.
Last week, 10 students in the Adat
Shalom Nosh n' Drash (eat and learn)
program did something different. In
conjunction with a program elective,
they headed to Florida to work with
Habitat for Humanity, a volunteer
group that builds and rehabilitates
housing for the poor.
The students, who were part of the
"Collegiate Challenge" program, were
the first group and the only high
school students to go.

2/27
1998

20

The high school juniors arrived in
Leesburg, Fla., just outside of
Orlando, on Sunday, Feb. 15. They
spent Monday through Thursday
working on two houses.
And it was work they had never
done before.
"The first day, the people there
started showing us all we needed to
know," said student Amy Klein.
On the almost-completed first
house, the students put up vinyl sid-
ing and installed insulation. Because
the home was awaiting plumbing and
required inspections, they moved on
to another house where three of them
worked on the frame.
"During February break, I've never
done anything meaningful," said stu-
dent Josh Berg. "We live in a privi-
leged community where everything is

Middle: Adat Shalom Youth
Director Marc Kay.

Above: The Adat Shalom
group on the scaffolding after
completing the house.

given to us, and this gave us a chance
to be pragmatic and do something
that matters."
For Miriam Starkman, the director
of B'nai B'rith Hillel of Metropolitan
Detroit and one of the instructors at
Adat Shalom who accompanied the
students, the trip was a first-time
opportunity.
"For me, it was very worthwhile
personally and to
watch the kids
work," she said.
:Tutting the final
piece of siding on
the back end of the
house was moving
for some kids
because they saw
the results of their
work."
Every Habitat
for Humanity com-
munity has a thrift
shop to which peo-
ple can donate money or cloth-
ing. While Berg, Ari Bresgold
and Ryan Vieder worked on the
new house, Klein, Sarah Turbow,
Dave Geringer, Matt Rappaport,
Jessica Fischer, Lysie Erman and
Carly Leipsitz spent a day there,
cleaning and reorganizing.
Fortunately, there were no
major accidents on the work site,
with the exception of Vieder
breaking out from the insulation.
On Thursday evening, the
group left the United Methodist
Camp where they stayed during
the Habitat project and headed for
a Sheraton hotel in Kissimmee.
They were going to Disney World.
"At first, the group was excited
about doing the Disney thing,"
said Marc Kay, the Adat
Shalom youth director.
"But, by the time we left
Michigan, they were really
excited about working on
the house."
The group spent Friday
morning in the theme
park, and by Saturday
night, the end of the trip,
they were able to celebrate
Mardi Gras early at
Pleasure Island.
Breshgold, took the trip
because "I though it
would be fun to help a community.
Disney wasn't the draw."
As part of the trip, Kay also folded
in a Jewish aspect, despite the fact that
Habitat for Humanity is a Christian
organization.