Local Youths Among J-Serve Volunteers

On Thursday, a group of youths from Farmington and Farmington Hills joined others from surrounding communities at on Middlebelt in Farmington Hills to take part in J-Serve 2011.

This annual program for Jewish youth began in 2008 in Metro Detroit, as teens volunteered at a variety of agencies to build a garden at Friendship Circle in West Bloomfield.

Since then, the program grew to accommodate 150 teens from different denominations and affiliations at J-Serve 2010, then expanded to offer two days of service this year. The first was Thursday, during which young volunteers sorted food at Gleaners Community Food Banks in Pontiac and Detroit, painted and sorted donations at the Baldwin Center in Pontiac and served dinner at the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries in downtown Detroit.

These days, we hear lots of stories about youth groups and individual teens volunteering. In fact, Adat Shalom Rabbi Aaron Bergman told the J-Serve youths, "Your generation is so much better than mine ever was."

Assuming we're somewhere around the same age, I think he's right. I don't remember any kind of emphasis placed on community service when I was in junior high and high school.

But something about Thursday's event really impressed me. Every one of the youths who showed up was on break from school. They had a choice about how to spend their time – and they chose service.

Now, how cool is that?

Learn more about J-Serve and how to help with the next day of service by contacting Jodi Gross, jgross@adatshalom.org.