making connections

helping others

by Hannah Schapiro

by Gabriella Ring

sister city in the making

recycle for charity

Ann Arbor-Moshav Nahalal exchange strengthens teen bonds.

mitzvah project continues to grow
as teen keeps up the work.

while we got to practice a language that only
made our bonds with them stronger.
"It was a great pleasure to be a mother to
two new 'family members' and integrate them
into our daily lives in such a short time," said
Margot Schapiro (my mother.)
A highlight of the trip was when the Ann
Arbor teens took the 14 guests to a University
of Michigan football game. For
the few diehard Michigan fans,
it was a great way for them to
show their pride and share an
experience with the Nahalal
group that really hit home.
The Israelis also had the
chance to attend local high
schools with their host teens.
They were intrigued by the
comparison between a school
day here and back home.
Group-bonding sessions
Teens from Ann Arbor and Moshav Nahalal hang out at the painted rock.
helped all the teens engage
and develop their relationships. Campfires
sister community in Israel.
For many, it was a reunion. During Febru- with s'mores were a big hit as well as the group
ary school break, seven Ann Arbor teens spent sleepovers that incorporated not only the Is-
time in Nahalal, a rural cooperative farming raeli teens and host teens, but also other Jewish
community in Israel's Jezreel Valley. For oth- Ann Arbor teens.
Attending the syna-
ers, it was a new and ex-
gogues for the holiday of
citing excursion.
Sukkot was also a great
As soon as the group
way to tie together the
was fully assembled, there
common culture we share
was a strong sense of uni-
and create a wonderful
ty. Could it be they are
learning
experience for all
from Israel, a place with a
of us.
beautiful history and fasci-
"It was a wonderful
nating cities, or could it be
experience; and I had an
the Jewish background,
amazing time in Ann Ar-
Clockwise
from
lower
left:
Hale!
Tamir,
Hannah
giving everyone some-
thing to relate to? It was King, Shiomit Aviezer, Tamar Shadmi prioritize bor," says Israeli Hagar
Cohen, a first-timer to Ann
was definitely a combina- activities that define their Jewish identity.
Arbor.
tion of both — and more.
When it was time to leave, there were bitter-
From cruising the streets of downtown Ann
Arbor, to baking challah at Zingerman's Bake sweet feelings in everyone's hearts. Knowing
that there would be another time and place to
House, everyone had an incredible time.
"I wish I had had more time with them, even meet lightened the mood. In retrospect, their
though I was with them every second I could stay seemed so short; and the idea that they
be," said Sara Zimmerman, an Ann Arbor par- had to leave triggered emotions I would've
ticipant. "The trip was very satisfying because never thought possible in such a short period
of time. All of the teens that participated in this
we had fun with whatever we were doing."
As a host, I felt like I connected with Gal life-changing partnership intend to see all of
the Israeli teens again. Un-
and Lipaz on levels unfathomable for newly ac-
til then, they will truly be
quainted peers. Not only did I acquire lifelong
missed.
friends, but I also really enjoyed being able to

Ann Arbor
rom Sept. 22-Oct. 2, I was lucky
enough to have 14 Israeli tenth-graders
spend 10 days with me and other Ann
Arbor tenth-graders. This was the second part
of a two-way youth exchange between the
Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and
Moshav Nahalal, our city's Partnership 2000

F

show them where I lived and having them love
every minute of it. I remember Gal saying to
me how nice it was to be in a house that spoke
at least a little bit of Hebrew. They felt at home,

Merrick Wolfe with a few of the 12,000 Juke boxes he recycled.

R

emember those juice pouch cell phones you made
as a kid after drinking whatever sugary drink was
inside it? In September 2009, Merrick Wolfe, 13,
of West Bloomfield began collecting empty juice pouches
for his mitzvah project. His bar mitzvah was last Novem-
ber at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
Merrick researched ways to recycle and found a com-
pany online that would exchange his pouches for a cash
donation to a charity of his choice. Merrick mails the
pouches to TerraCycle in New Jersey, which donates two
cents per pouch. TerraCycle uses the pouches for back-
packs, pencil cases and other items they sell.
Before his bar mitzvah, Merrick set up collection boxes
at Bloomfield Hills Lone Pine Elementary in West Bloom-
field and counted the juice pouches each month throughout
the school year. He even formed a Lone Pine Juice Pouch
Recycling Committee to help him with this efforts. He
looked toward an elementary school for support because
younger students seem to drink more juice.
His ultimate goal is to help the environment and raise
money for a charity close to him.
His cousin, Jessie, died from SMA (Spinal Muscular At-
rophy), a muscular dystrophy disease, just shy of her first
birthday. He decided the money he earned would go to
Illinois-based Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy to help
family members affected by the death of their loved ones
to the disease — and to help find a cure for the disease.
So far, Merrick has collected more than 12,000 pouches
and raised $240 for FSMA.
"I don't really have a goal. I'm just frying to raise as
much money as I can for FSMA," said Merrick, now an
eighth-grader at Bloomfield Hills West Hills Middle School
in West Bloomfield,.
Merrick's efforts have continued. He is collecting juice
pouches this school year and intends to start collecting juice
pouches at other elementary schools in the area as well.
"I think it's great," said his mom, Michelle. "His bar mitz-
vah project really snowballed into so much
more."

Hannah Schapiro, 15, is a

Gabriella Ring, 17, is a senior

sophomore at Huron High School

at Berkley High School.

in Ann Arbor.

teen2teen October 21.2010 TT3

