WEST ORANGE, NJ — Middle and high school students from Golda Och Academy took their lessons on tikkun olam, making the world a better place, and put them into practice. On Wednesday, Jan. 18, the entire Upper School — students in grades six through 12 and faculty — visited 18 different service sites to give back to the community.
“It was incredible to see our school come together for an impactful day of service and learning. In addition to giving students hands-on volunteer experience, Community Service Day was a way to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Jordan Herskowitz, director of student life at GOA, said in a press release. “It was a strong statement of support for our community and gave students the chance to take part in important work.”
Prior to leaving for their designated sites, Rabbi Meirav Kallush, GOA’s director of Israel programming, addressed the student body and reminded them of their obligation as members of the Jewish community to help others around them.
“We are responsible to be part of the world around us, to be part of our neighbors’ lives,” she told them, highlighting the importance of “helping, volunteering, learning what challenges and comforts others, to be part of making our wider community a better place by not shying away from the task at hand.”
Throughout the morning, students had the opportunity to visit seniors, work with children in daycare centers and charter schools, assist in animal shelters, organize food at local food pantries and food banks, participate in global outreach, run activities for people living with AIDS, and interact with disabled adults and youth.
Tenth-grader Emme Young visited Spectrum 360, a school for the disabled, and was interested to see how the children interacted with each other and the social skills they were learning in class.
“It was a great experience, and it was nice for our entire school to do this together,” she said. “Community Service Day exposes us to different places we can volunteer and different ways we can help our community.”
Eighth-grader Avraham Deitz-Green, who went to the Daughters of Israel nursing facility in West Orange, said the residents were overjoyed to have visitors from GOA. “We helped to set up the dining room for their meal, talked with the residents and did some dancing,” he said. “It was an eye-opening experience, and I really felt like I was making a difference.”
Upon returning to school for the afternoon, students attended various workshops led by GOA faculty and leaders from the local community focusing on hunger and homelessness, domestic violence, gender equality, LGBT equality, Newark’s Jewish history, environmental issues, humane treatment of animals and animal rights, as well as the American Jewish World Service.
GOA was also proud to welcome filmmaker Bennett Singer, who shared clips from his award-winning documentary “Brother Outsider” about the life of Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Singer was also joined by Walter Naegle, Rustin’s partner, who accepted the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in honor of Rustin’s work on the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
According to Head of School Adam Shapiro, Community Service Day is one of the most important programs at Golda Och Academy.
“It’s not always the hours of service on the day that provide the most meaning,” he said. “Rather, it’s when these experiences lead to additional volunteer opportunities in the months and years that follow. We know that these hours of service have provided our students with opportunities to develop deeper and long-lasting connections to important organizations in our community and that makes all of the work that goes into this day incredibly powerful and quite meaningful.”
Photos Courtesy of Golda Och Academy
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