Special to NJJN

April 16, 2009

Plant an urban garden, help socialize cats at a local animal shelter, play basketball with residents of a group home for adults with cerebral palsy.

Thousands of Jewish teens around the country will participate in the fourth annual J-Serve on April 26, a national day of community service for teens.

Local teens will gather at 9 a.m. at the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany and choose from among 16 projects. (A full list, together with registration information, can be found at jserve.org/metrowest/index.html.)

The day culminates in a celebration and pizza party, followed by a Stand Up for Gilad Shalit Teen Rally — calling for the release of the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas in 2006 — from 1:30 to 2 p.m.

J-Serve 2009 is a collaboration of PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values and the Jewish Coalition for Service, with additional support by partner agencies and foundations. It is being organized locally by the Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, a beneficiary agency of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ. This year marks the third of local participation.

All teens will travel together from the Aidekman campus to their project sites and return to Whippany.

Community members are also invited to participate in the many drives that will take place at J-Serve. Among the items being collected toiletries, winter coats and gloves, and baby supplies.

Also in connection with the event, the Partnership is collecting used bikes for Pedals for Progress. Adults’ or children’s bicycles that are rust-free and in repairable condition are welcome. P4P collects over 11,000 bicycles annually and transfers them to the needy in developing countries. A donation toward shipping costs is required (suggested minimum amount: $10 per bike).

All items must be dropped at the Aidekman campus in Whippany between 9:30 a.m. and noon on April 26.

“We are very excited to be able to host so many community service projects for teens and provide them this opportunity to be part of a national initiative,” said Michal Greenbaum, Jewish service learning coordinator at the Partnership.

J-Serve aims to encourage Jewish service as well as community building across religious lines, according to national leaders involved with the project.

“What makes J-Serve so powerful is that it enables the entire Jewish community to act in a unified fashion, transcending denominational and institutional lines,” said Rabbi Sid Schwarz, president and founder of PANIM.

“J-Serve empowers teens by making them aware that through service they can become positive change agents, fulfilling the Jewish mandate to bring tzedek, justice, to the world. The fact that thousands of teens participate in J-Serve annually shows both the commitment of the Jewish people to service as well as the strength of the unified Jewish community.”

Approximately 12,000 teens are expected to participate in service programs in 60 cities from coast to coast.

J-Serve 2009 is the Jewish service component of the annual Global Youth Service Day of Youth Service America. J-Serve 2008 generated 65 community service projects across the country and attracted 10,000 teen volunteers.

The J-Serve initiative is underwritten by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Award Committee, the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation, and the Estelle Friedman Gervis Family Foundation.

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