You Serve, J-Serve
Join other Jewish teens making a
difference — volunteer on April 26.
Teen Volunteer
Corps members
Hilary Dorman,
16, Emily
Andrew Milgrom
Teen2Teen Staff Writer
-Serve is a day of service for
Jewish youth around the world.
The program, founded in 2005
by an inspired teen, provides opportuni-
ties for Jewish teens to participate in
acts of loving-kindness, just and chari-
table giving, and reinforces the idea that
Jews have a duty to help the world that
we live in. This year, that day is Sunday,
April 26.
Last year, 10,000 teens from across
the United States, Canada and Israel
participated in J-Serve. Projects varied
among the 65 registered communities.
Some included beach cleanups, wetlands
restoration and a rally and walkathon
to raise money that will be used to fight
genocide in Darfur.
Rabbi Sid Schwarz, president and
j
founder of PANIM (of which J-Serve
is a collaboration), said, "What makes
J-Serve so powerful is that it enables
the entire Jewish community to act in a
unified fashion, transcending denomi-
national and institutional lines."
This year, teens in Metro Detroit
and Ann Arbor will clean, paint and
renovate the Isaac Agree Downtown
Synagogue. This synagogue continues to
offer Shabbat and holiday services and
functions as the last remaining syna-
gogue building in Detroit. After years of
wear-and-tear, the synagogue members
look forward to working with teens in
our community to beautify and renovate
its building.
The group of approximately 100 teens
will be split in half. Each half will partici-
pate in a downtown walking tour led by
the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan
as well as working on the synagogue.
Goodman, 14,
Tedi Dorman,
14, and Pearl
Dorman, 12,
all of West
Bloomfield
Joey Kepes,
Josh Dean and
Ben Eilender, all
16 and of West
Bloomfield, help
clean up after
the party thrown
by the Teen
Volunteer Corps.
The event goes from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday, April 26. Advanced online reg-
istration at www.jserve.org/detroit, is
required and closes April 19. The bus
transportation drop-off and pick-up
location is Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills. J-Serve 2009 is made
possible by the Korotkin Insurance
Group, Southfield.
Participants will include teens and
adult chaperoned from Metro Detroit
and Ann Arbor. Participating youth
organizations include Yeshivat Akiva
in Southfield, Adat Shalom Synagogue,
Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland
County, ATID: Alliance for Teens in
Detroit in Farmington Hills, Frankel
Jewish Academy in West Bloomfield,
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, Oakland County-based
Tamarack Camps, Temple Emanu-El
in Oak Park, Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield, Teen Volunteer Corps, Young
Judaea and local BBYO, MCUSY, NCSY
and NFTY youth groups.
❑
Andrew Mllgrom, 16, Is a Junior at
Frankel Jewish Academy, West Bloomfield.
Teen2Teen and Detroit Public Television are collaborating
on a project to add video stories to our Web sites.
Interested Jewish teens should e-mail Dana Loewenstein
at dloewenstein@dptv.org to find out more.
Noah Newman, 14, Bloomfield Township; Andrew Gordner, 14, Franklin; Samuel
Kepes, 14, West Bloomfield; and Jonah Newman, 12, Bloomfield Township are part of
Adat Shalom's Teen Volunteer Corps.
A42
April 9 g 2009
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een in nest week's Jewish News