APRIL 25 • 2024 | 11

together as they get to know the people
JARC serves.
Hillel Program Leader and seventh-
grade teacher Leslie Baron has been
involved with the JARC partnership
for 21 years, first as a facilitator and for
the past 10 years as the program leader.
Baron shared that the program has
evolved significantly since its inception
and now is further integrated into the
overall seventh-grade curriculum.
In the last five years, the program has
increasingly involved more teachers to
be able to conduct a research project
on developmental disabilities in their
science class, complete a fundraising
activity including linear equations
and graphing data in math class,

read a novel about a child who has
developmental disabilities in English
class, and understand what the Torah
says about how we are to treat people
with developmental disabilities in Jewish
studies class.
Over the years, Hillel seventh-
graders and adults served by JARC have
participated in full group activities like
bowling and Bingo, and smaller groups
visited JARC homes and did more one-
on-one activities like baking, making
ice cream sundaes, creating jewelry and
other arts and crafts, performing in
talent shows, playing trivia and more.
With 40 years of making memories for
students and persons served alike, many
of the students have been profoundly

impacted by their involvement that
has stuck with them throughout their
schooling and beyond.

THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEERING
Joshua Gadharf, a 1993-94 alumnus
of the seventh-grade program
recalls having great memories of his
experiences with JARC including baking
and doing art projects, and that the
program made him see the value of
volunteering.
“I felt like, as a preteen and teenager, it
was important for me to understand how
other people live, and learn more about
developmental disabilities,” Gadharf
said. “It was also fulfilling to feel like I
was making a difference in someone’s

TOP, LEFT TO RIGHT: Hillel
students visit JARC’s Pitt
Home to pot plants, 2000.
Hillel students join a JARC
Bingo game, 2002. Hillel
students at another Bingo
event in 1996.
BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT:
Jacob, a person served by
JARC, Hillel student Ari
Rubin and a JARC staff
member bake together
at a JARC home, 1995.
Current Hillel students
play Bingo at a recent
JARC event. Merrick Jacob,
Barbara Mitteldorf, a per-
son served by JARC, and
Brittany Gonte make jewelry
together.

continued on page 12

JESSICA TIERNEY

COURTESY OF THE LEONARD N. SIMONS JEWISH COMMUNITY ARCHIVES