Aodhan Lyons volunteers at a food bank on the Navajo Nation

I went to the Navajo Nation on Young Judaea’s alternative winter break program with few expectations except that it would be a fun time. It ended up being that and more.

We did a lot of local volunteer work for the Navajo Nation, in Tuba City mostly, but also in a rural area of the reservation in northeastern Arizona. We started out with some icebreakers to get to know each other. Everyone was fantastic and I slept in a hogan with nine other high school guys. We all ended up becoming good friends. The Navajo nation is divided into areas called chapters, and on the first day, we helped prepare land for the building of a subchapter house so the people nearby could go there for information instead of walking many miles to get news. Afterward we walked to some nearby cliffs, did tefillot (prayers), and played on a large sand dune where I fell off and hit my face hard on the ground. That led me to learn a new Navajo custom: “It is important to laugh at someone when they get hurt, before you ask them if they are okay,” our guide and site director said.

The next day we split up and my group went to the Hopi senior center to help take down Christmas decorations and converse with the elders. One of them, named Ellis, showed me how to play a game called rummikub. All of the people there were women who loved the final activity we did with them, Israeli dancing. The next day, my group went to the food bank where we split up into two smaller groups. One group went to help cut down a dead tree and plant a new peach tree in its place. My group helped sort products from large cardboard units into smaller plastic boxes. We also helped put products into cardboard boxes to give to families.

On the final day, we visited some museums and a sweat lodge. The sweat lodge was fantastic, with a prayer session aloud in the middle of nowhere, inside a tiny dugout mud hut with steam constricting my breathing, and intense heat. It was “pain for the sake of others.” I imagined that it was kind of seeping the perfect wellness out of us and moving it to the people who needed it more. We went off to Phoenix to sleep in a hotel near the airport, then returned to our respective homes after doing reflections on the week, with a lot of goodbyes. I will really miss all the friends I made, and hope to see them again. I also hope to see the impact I made on the people I met. This was a great way to spend my winter break, because I made a lot of new friends, and it makes me feel good that I helped a lot of people.

Aodhan Lyons, a freshman at Tucson High Magnet School, raised $700 to participate in Young Judaea’s alternative winter break program by soliciting donations from members of the board of Hadassah Southern Arizona and others in the local Jewish community, family and friends, supplemented by a subsidy from Young Judaea. Young Judaea, a Zionist youth movement managed by Hadassah, added the Navajo Nation this year to its winter break program, which it has operated in New Orleans for several years.

Hebrew High Care-A-Van participants (L-R) Michelle Jafee, Hila Lamdan, Emma Goldblatt and Sarah Robins in downtown Denver.

This summer I took part in the 10th annual Care-A-Van trip organized by Hebrew High in Phoenix. I heard about the Care-A-Van opportunity from Sharon Glassberg, director of Tucson’s Hebrew High. From June 13 to 29, we visited 18 different cities in seven different states: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. At each place we participated in volunteer programs at various organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, a food bank and Globus Relief, a healthcare project. During our trip we completed 43 hours of community service. We also got to see new sights like Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore.

Since this was a Jewish trip we would all look forward to Shabbat. Every Friday evening we would all get dressed up, have a service, and after that we would have a festive dinner. The next morning we would sleep in and have free time to explore the place we were visiting with friends. For example, the first Shabbat we stayed at Colorado College and got to look around the campus and the second Shabbat we were staying at vacation homes in Utah and explored Park City.

At the Boys & Girls Club in Colorado it was inspiring to see all the kids that were being helped through this amazing program. A lot of the kids didn’t have stable families and you could tell that they considered everyone at the club, from the counselors to the other children, their family. One girl was in the art class making her dad a “Welcome Home” poster because he was coming home from fighting in the military. She said that she was going to go to the airport the next day and her face lit up every time she talked about him.

We didn’t only volunteer at big national programs like the Boys & Girls Club. We also helped out at local places such as the Shalom Park Retirement Center in Denver, where we played bingo with the seniors, and the Albuquerque Rescue Mission, where we cleaned the bathrooms, doors, walls and tables. Another example is Hoofbeats to Healing in Provo, Utah, where we helped clean the stalls for the horses, which are used to help kids with autism and similar disorders.

During the 16 days of Care-A-Van not only did we feel as though we were helping all of the communities we visited, we also bonded and became somewhat of a family. I know I have met Jewish friends that I will have for the rest of my life because of this experience.

Hila Lamdan is a sophomore at Catalina Foothills High School.

Haley Roberts

When presented with the opportunity to A) go on a summer trip to Europe, or B) go to a Jewish leadership camp, you could only imagine the look on my parents’ faces when I chose option B! Priceless!

This summer I ventured across the country to upstate New York to attend the Union for Reform Judaism’s Kutz Camp. This camp is NFTY’s (North American Federation of Temple Youth) summer home. I was fortunate enough to meet other teens from Canada, Hungary, Romania, the Netherlands and Israel. The camp is open to participants from all over the world; however, most participants live in the United States.

Each teen who attends chooses a major they focus on for the duration of camp, which is about three weeks. They also choose two minors, which change each week. My major, “Teva Outdoor Adventure,” taught me a lot about spirituality and how to connect to G-d through nature. The first project I participated in was a camp trash audit. We weighed, sorted and recorded information taken from 30 bags of trash. Based on that data, we informed other URJ camps of ways they could help reduce waste and set up more effective recycling on their campuses. It was a very eye-opening experience that I will never forget. I also went on numerous hikes with Teva, learning the names of different plant species as well as how to lead a group of peers.

One of my favorite trips with Teva was to New York City! Our group went to the High Line, which used to be a rail system in the meat-packing district. It has been transformed into a magnificent park. In Teva we always talked about discovering nature in the least likely of places. This definitely was one of those! Although the park is in the middle of the bustling city, it is so serene and peaceful, with nature all around. It didn’t seem as if something so beautiful could exist in such a large city.

On top of learning, camp was a great way to make new friends. Before going to Kutz I only knew five other people from my region. Now I have so many new connections. It was such a cool experience to get to know people from all walks of life. It was especially nice to all be Jewish and have the religion barrier removed. Going to Kutz has been one of the greatest choices of my life. I will never forget the amazing people or the experiences I had there.

Haley Roberts is the president of OCTY (Or Chadash Temple Youth), a new local chapter of NFTY open to students in grades 8-12.

The goal of this nonprofit organization that aids impoverished and homeless Tucsonans is most certainly a concept B’nai Tzedek teens learn through their experiences.

As part of the teen advisory council for B’nai Tzedek, a teen philanthropy program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Coalition for Jewish Education and the Jewish Community Foundation, my participation at Casa Maria began with preparing 100 bagged lunches at a fellow council member’s home along with Adam Friedman, Alyssa Silva, Cate Rubin and Adam DeLuca.

This task became incredibly enjoyable with the thought of actually distributing the meals and benefiting other individuals the next day. B’nai Tzedek Coordinator Bryan Davis, council members Adam Friedman and Sam Silverman and I then performed this deed of delivering the bags.

Upon pulling up to Casa Maria, I took a breath of air, holding back many emotions as I saw so many men, women, and children in need. Each bag contained a cheese sandwich, a cookie, juice, and an orange.

To the individuals involved in the distribution, this was merely a bag of staples that we bring to school each day. However, to the visitors at Casa Maria whose lives depend on receiving this food, these staples were, in some cases, the only food they would receive all day. As they received the meals, the individuals’ eyes shone with such appreciation and gratitude for our action that day.

After handing out the lunches, we had the opportunity to learn about the work of Casa Maria’s volunteers and staff in combating hunger in our community.

Each morning, the workers and volunteers prepare 300 to 400 cups of soup — no individual is ever turned away without food.

The environment at Casa Maria was like a family; most people knew one another and were familiar with their conditions, if they had family, where they lived, or if they had ill loved ones.

In this single visit, we witnessed the donation of three truckloads of goods, including food, flowers and much more. The volunteers emphasized that one does not have to wait until the holiday seasons to aid others, as there are millions of individuals living in poverty each day. After this experience, each member of B’nai Tzedek in attendance hoped to return and assist this wonderful organization.

This experience epitomized the B’nai Tzedek motto: “Give a little, change a lot.”

Are you 16-22 and interested in writing a Shout Out column? Contact Phyllis or Sheila at 319-1112 or localnews@azjewishpost.com.

When will the phrase, “Never Again” actually represent the truth? In 1945, the Holocaust ended and after the death of approximately six million Jews, we vowed, “Never Again.” We vowed we would never again stand idly by and watch human beings be treated so mercilessly. However, here we are, 2010, and genocide continues.

I often think about my 7th and 8th grade years at Tucson Hebrew Academy. THA teaches the basics like math, science, social studies and language arts, but what makes this school different from a public school, is that they teach the values of tzedakah and mitzvot. Tzedakah means charity or helping the less fortunate. Completing a mitzvah is to carry out an act of human kindness.
My media teacher at Catalina Foothills High School, Mrs. Bomeisl, asked each student to choose an issue that he or she felt passionately about. Throughout this year we have used various media outlets as part of a public relations campaign to appeal to others. My campaign was on genocide in Darfur, Sudan. I wanted to do more than expose the killing and the brutal punishment of ethnic Africans in Darfur by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, to my classmates.

Through Hebrew High and STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) I have founded Darfur Tucson. Bryan Davis, Hebrew High principal, has encouraged and supported me every step of the way.

Currently, I’m working with a group of middle school students from Satori Middle School. As a Satori alum, I feel this is the perfect environment to start advocating. I began teaching in January and students have surpassed my expectations in response to my lessons.
I walked into Satori Middle School to teach about Darfur, but the students wanted more. They asked about helping in their community and are discovering new ways to do so.

We visited Casa Maria Soup Kitchen, as many of them were eager to make a positive contribution to those less fortunate. This experience provided them the opportunity to see how donating food and volunteering time make a difference to those in need.

Some students have joined Darfur Tucson and will be present during a fundraising event on April 21 at Crossroads Theater. They will work a Darfur information booth from 6:30 to 7 p.m. From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., there will be a screening of the documentary “Sand and Sorrow” narrated by George Clooney, which analyzes Khartoum’s ongoing repression of civilians in Darfur and how the international community has failed to respond. There is no charge for the event, however, donations for the non-profit organization Darfur Tucson can be made to the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona.

I will continue my fight for an end to the Darfur genocide by educating students, teaching individual responsibility and encouraging them to stand up for what they believe is right. The fight for equality for all human beings must go on. It’s time to speak now to ensure NEVER AGAIN.

Erica Bee is a student at Hebrew High and Catalina Foothills High School.

Are you 16-22 and interested in writing for Shout Out? Contact Phyllis or Sheila at 319-1112 or localnews@azjewishpost.com.