On Sunday, April 2, forty-one Milwaukee area Jewish teens lived out their Jewish values at the Teen Day of Social Action, a joint program of Tikkun Ha-Ir of Milwaukee and the Coalition for Jewish Learning.
Teens earned credit for service hours while learning about social action from a Jewish perspective. The morning program began with welcome speeches and a discussion of poverty and the environment by Rabbi Shlomo Levin. Teens then participated in their choice of two activities. Some learned how families survive on a drastically limited budget at the Hunger Task Force’s simulation “Food for Today.” One teen called the most challenging part of this session “imagining having to feed a family of eight with only $11.00 a day in real life.” Other teens identified how their talents could be used to help others at a workshop with playwright and director Sherri Williams-Pannell and David McKinney, Vice President of Alumni Programs for Public Allies.
After a vegetarian and dairy kosher lunch, the teens volunteered at seven different agencies that work in the areas of poverty, hunger, shelter, health issues and the environment. They painted, helped with indoor and outdoor cleanup of the agency sites, packed boxes of kitchen supplies for formerly homeless people moving into apartments, and did an art project with homeless children and their mothers. Each of the work assignments at the various agencies was linked to a Jewish value.
The day opened the eyes of many of the participants. Some teens learned about “how the poor manage their money” and “what life is like as an adult.” Others realized “through the Hunger Task Force simulation that hunger is real.” By “seeing how hard it was for people to …be homeless” and “seeing what the [homeless] women went through,” teens understood “how hard the poor’s life is.”
Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable day. One teen had a great time “playing Connect Four with a young boy and seeing how we both had fun.” Another was moved at “seeing how happy they were to see us.” Everyone loved “the feeling of helping others” or “helping the community.” One teen was proud of “the fact that I helped someone start new.” Another said, “The environment was friendly and peaceful, [and there were] nice leaders and staff members.”
Students will be able to continue these service-learning relationships with the people and agencies they meet that day. In fact, the teens that went to Meta House had such a great time that they are already planning to return for another visit!
Read Michelle Langer’s article in JVIBE Magazine about her experience at Teen Day of Social Action.
Click here to read Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle coverage of this event
