August 2010

J-Teen Leadership Celebrates
Fifth Anniversary at Annual Breakfast
While Focusing on Humanitarian Initiatives

J-Teen Leadership, a Westchester teen-led Jewish social-action initiative, celebrated its fifth anniversary at its annual 2010 Tikkun Olam Breakfast, which focused on members’ humanitarian-relief efforts in Haiti and their work in fighting hunger and homelessness.

The breakfast, which took place on Sunday, June 13th at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, also paid tribute to Benny Wechsler, who directs a nonprofit program that feeds more than 15,000 people in the New York area.

As part of the Tikkun Olam breakfast, more than 30 teens received the 2010 President’s Volunteer Awards for volunteering at least 25 hours on the J-Teen Leadership Hunger and Homelessness Initiative.

As an organization, J-Teen Leadership is the recipient of a Gold President’s Volunteer Service Award for more than 1000 hours of service in combating Hunger and Homeless Initiative, with its efforts encompassing projects with Habitat for Humanity, Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, Food Bank for Westchester and the Afya Foundation.

J-Teen Leadership members Jordan Nick of Armonk, Ali Och of Scarsdale, and Michelle Wexler of Scarsdale chaired the event. Its name “Tikkun Olam” means “repairing the world” in Hebrew, a time-honored concept in the Jewish community that inspires social action and charity to make the world a better place for all people.

Susie Stern, the chair of the New York State Commission on National and Community Service, served as guest speaker.

For his profound sense of humanity Wechsler received J-Teen Leadership’s Lamed Vav Award, which takes its names from two Hebrew letters — vav and lamed — that together form the number 36. According to Jewish tradition, the world is perpetually sustained by 36 righteous people living on earth, their identities unknown to each other.

As director of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty’s Kosher Food Network, Wechsler has played a pivotal role in growing the kosher food distribution program, which today provides monthly food packages to 15,000 families up from 400 families eleven years ago. In addition, Wechsler also operates Edible Leftovers, Inc., a not-for-profit kosher food rescue program that uses a volunteer force to pick up food from weddings and other celebrations for distribution to low-income families in Rockland County and other NYC suburban areas.

An inspiration to J-Teen Leadership, Wechsler has enabled J-Teen Leadership participants to volunteer in hands-on food sorting programs in Westchester and Brooklyn.

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