Hundreds of preteens had help choosing a tzedaka project for their bar or bat mitzva as they toured a veritable smorgasbord of charitable agencies Jan. 21.

A total of 20 agencies and organizations — some nonsectarian and others connected to the Jewish community — appealed for volunteers in a program called “Mitzvot of MetroWest” in a day of presentations at the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany.

The causes included programs that promote outreach to the homeless, assistance to children with special needs, support for Israel, feeding the hungry, training and providing seeing-eye and therapy dogs, efforts to fight genocide in Darfur, and “twinning” for Holocaust survivors.

“It was an opportunity for the students and their parents to learn more about this step in their lives,” said Joan Bronspiegel Dickman, director of early childhood initiatives at The Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ. The program encouraged youngsters “not to just plan a party and a celebration and a ceremony,” she said. “They are now responsible and you can make a difference in the world.”

The young people and their parents, who came from 22 synagogues in the MetroWest area, listened to speakers, discussed mitzva projects with organization leaders, and studied information as they were exposed to a broad spectrum of opportunities for volunteering.

“On top of that, there were mitzvot being done that very day,” said Adam Oded, teen educator at The Partnership. At the event, he said, “we ran a food drive and collected canned goods that were shared with the Interfaith Food Pantry in Morristown and the Bobrow Food Pantry at Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange.”

In recent years, children becoming bar and bat mitzva have added a tzedaka or mitzva project as part of their preparations; such projects have become a requirement at many synagogues and schools.

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