Today my group visited the recirculating farms coalition. The farm is right in the middle of a food desert, a place where people don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Recirculating farms grows organic fruits and vegetables athat they sell to the residents of the food dessert at a reduced price. When we went to visit them we helped around however they needed us to. We did many different small tasks that need to be done on a daily basis to allow the farm run smoothly.  It was really nice knowing we played a part in providing cheap healthy food to people who previously had no access what so ever to fresh food.

~ Zander Winston – 10th Grade, Birmingham, Alabama

Today we volunteered for a nonprofit organization called Green Light. This organization helps build gardens for members of the New Orleans community and aids in providing healthy accessible food options. In our volunteering we built a garden for a women who just recently moved to New Orleans with her husband. I feel that we have truly made an impact on this family’s life because this garden will lead this family to a healthier lifestyle while also being a reasonably affordable option. After building the garden, we started out on our next Green Light project. This project was to help change residents light bulbs into more energy efficient ones that would be better for the environment and a more affordable option in the long run. Doing this made us realize that the littlest things can help create a better and safer environment. By knowing that we took part in not only helping others but helping the environment, we feel that today has been a successful day and we cannot wait to see what we are doing tomorrow.

~ Alyssa Bigelman – 10th Grade, Parkland, Florida

We began our volunteering at the St. Bernard Project with an ice breaker. We went around in a circle saying our name and the city we live in, then we recounted a childhood memory. After everyone had gone Chris, one our volunteer coordinators, told us the purpose of the ice breaker. Everyone of our memories was related to our neighborhood or a home. By building the house that we were working on today, we were helping a little boy or girl like us make memories. We helped families come together and have a normal life in a good home. Although we just painted the home and helped clean, I really felt like I was changing people’s lives. Even though the painting we did was just a small part of the home in the future, each minute we helped paint was a minute closer to a family moving in.

~ Owen Jannsen – 9th Grade, Evanston, Illinois

The towering highways wind and turn above the Lower Ninth Ward, casting long, serpent-like shadows above the decayed and broken homes. It’s hard to believe that the Hurricane Katrina was ten years ago, but for the inhabitants of the Lower Ninth, it still feels like yesterday. But Greenlight strives to make the inhabitants feel like it’s tomorrow. From installing high-tech CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lights) fixtures, to creating aesthetic and simple gardens, all free of charge.

Today, we helped Green Light perform both of these services. But the most powerful experience for me was truly seeng how different everything was in the Lower Ninth. The main city of New Orleans is comparable to Manhattan, Miami, Chicago, and ever other major city in the United States. But in the Lower Ninth, all that changed. The streets haven’t been serviced in years, and are scarred and mistreated. It seems that every other house is abandoned and destroyed, still marked with an eerie paint, counting the number of corpses found within the home after Katrina. The paint has been around for 10 years, and was drawn by the first responders. The houses that have been rebuilt are much more cheery, and are fairly new, painted with bright colors of orange, green, and pink, which clash heavily with the grey and black of the thick metal girders covering the windows and doors. Even after giving people a few minutes heads up that we would be coming, they would still cautiously open the door, and ask who we were before unbolting and unchaining the entrance to their home. Even the way they talk is different. We all had trouble understanding what some were saying, as they spoke their twisted and changed, yet unique, version of the English language.

In the end we built one garden for a grandmother and her grandchildren, and replaced nearly all the lightbulbs in two homes. While it seems fairly minuscule, this simple work will save each family hundreds of dollars in the years to come. Hundreds that they can use to better their lives, their homes, and their neighborhoods. And as the neighborhoods get better, more people will move in, and more decayed houses will be torn down and rebuilt, and the Lower Ninth will become the strong and unique community it was all those years ago.

~ Gabi Glueck – 11th Grade, Highland Park, NJ

Today my group took part in Green Light New Orleans, which is a nonprofit organization that takes out lightbulbs in resident homes and replace them with Mercury free bulbs in order to decrease the amount carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere. Along with the lightbulbs, GRNO puts in small gardens into backyards to takes New Orleans residents the importance of building self-sustaining gardens. This is my second time doing AWB in NOLA and this is probably my favorite service project because it really allows us to interact with the home owners; speaking with them about their life, about their encounter with Hurricane Katrina, etc. It was really amazing to talk to Mrs. Margaret about how she ended up in New Orleans because she fell in love. She said “when you fall in love with a man from New Orleans, you are with them for the rest of your life”. It is moments like these where you really get to connect with the people you are helping out. Also, I was so happy to see Mrs. Margaret help us with the finishing touches of the garden construction because it shows how interested she actually is in invested time to maintain her garden. Overall, I am having an amazing time on AWB NOLA for the second time and am thoroughly enjoying the service projects as well as the pulsing culture that NOLA has to offer.

~ Matthew Kaplan is from Atlanta, Georgia and attend the University of Georgia

Camp is an single experience made up of multiple amazing experiences. Those of us who are now too old to go to junior camps or Tel Yehudah often forget just how much we are missing. Today was Saturday, which is debatably the best day out of the camp week. It is a day filled with fun shabbat services, learning about the week’s parsha by watching the parsha players perform, extra chofesh(free time), havdallah services, and of course rikud(dancing). This is the day that made not only me, but multiple other people, miss camp more than we had any other day this week.

Once we started singing the old songs and dancing the same dances that i had done back at Camp Young Judea, I immediately picked up right where i had left off in middle school. It felt like i had never left in the first place and I had this overwhelming feeling of community accompanied by pure joy. I was overcome with love for my both my religion and the people that were surrounding me. It felt like home.

Camp Young Judea Texas is not just someplace I went for a few summers when I was a kid and then will forget as I grow older. Camp is a place where i made memories that i will have with me forever and a place where i made friendships that will last a lifetime. Camp is and will always be my home and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Dedicated to the place where my heart lives.

~ Rebecca Stetzer – 11th Grade, Houston, Texas

When I arrived to the PATH Homeless Shelter, I expected each resident to have a similar background. I assumed the residents wouldn’t have completed school, and from there on would have fallen on a dangerous road. However, after many conversations, I felt very guilty for my presumptions. I first met a man named Steve who spent most of his life traveling around the United States and Europe studying art and history. He was very knowledgable about current events, and has dreams to someday return to Europe as filmmaker. Later in the day, I met an older woman who grew up in Los Angeles with her two kids. Both of her kids attended private school, and are currently very successful. The fashionable woman has two doctor’s degrees as well, education is extremely important to her. She spoke in a wise manner-reflecting her enthusiasm for psychology and literature. After a near death attack, she arrived to the shelter due to her extreme PTSD.

Talking to those two residents allowed me to realize that life is a roller coaster-it has very high highs and very low lows. One day you can carelessly be traveling around the world, but the next you can be without money and  no one to rely on. Luckily, shelters exist to provide a temporary sanctuary until you get back on your feet. Next, I realized that I shouldn’t generalize anything before I’ve actually become aware of the situation. I will start observing and learning about a situation before creating a bias standard. Lastly, I felt very inspired by Steve and the other woman-despite how rough life has been for them for the last years, they continue to be very optimistic. In conclusion, PATH provides a temporary home for all sorts of people with all sorts of backgrounds. I am very glad that I volunteered at PATH and had so many interesting conversations with the residents.

~ Kimia Azad – 9th Grade, Beverly Hills, CA

Today I realized that I can make a bigger impact than I thought. I’m not talking about writing a billion dollar check but I’m talking about making a meal and playing games and putting a smile on someone’s face. That’s how I can contribute. It doesn’t have to be material objects, it can be just as easy as spreading a little happiness. Seeing how happy everyone was today and seeing how everyone was enjoying and basking in the holiday spirit and being jolly and happy regardless of their situation. It made me realize that I should be thankful for every little thing in my life and every gift I am given and blessed with.

Today I talked to this man for about an hour. He was around the age of forty, and regardless of the age difference between us, we were able to carry a long, wonderful conversation about nothing in particular. We weren’t discussing anything heavy, the two of us were merely talking and joking. I was able to talk to him as if I was talking to someone that I’ve known for years. I got to know quite a lot about him and other residents at PATH, and I’ve really come to appreciate their stories and the perseverance that they have shown through their hardships.

I really admire everyone that I was blessed to have met, I feel like the experience has helped shaped my understanding of what our society has become today and what my position in helping is. I didn’t realize time was passing by while talking to him, and I’m so appreciative of the little time that I did get. This trip has made me come to the conclusion that not only have I been blinded and turning my head the other way when it comes to the tragedies in our society, but it has also made me realize just how much I’ve been missing out on various opportunities to interact with people just like me.

~ Olya Zwerner – 11th Grade, Atlanta, Georgia

When I decided to go on AWB I knew right away that I wanted to go to Los Angeles. The work that was described appealed to me; the idea of helping people get on their feet and into the world was wonderful. But I was also afraid.

When people volunteer like this, they tend to assume all those in need of help will be grateful for it. I was afraid of this trip turning into that and becoming White Man’s Burdenesque.

Tons of questions ran through my mind: what if the people we help are ungrateful? What if they don’t want our help? And worst of all; what if we weren’t actually helping them, but simply convinced ourselves we were?

I felt like this especially when a member of PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) came to talk to us about how amazing our contribution was. She said nothing about how what we were doing would help the people who lived there, only told us we were doing good.

Since then I have been pleasantly surprised, and my outlook has brightened in the four meals since we were told that. Sure, we essentially just cooked some meals and spent some time talking, but those hours we spent there did so much.

Our counselors asked us today whether we thought our work at PATH did more for us than for them, and our entire team struggled with that question. One of our group even said that we were all jerks for thinking that our food and visits to PATH really did so much for the residents. “Most of them are already set up for permanent housing,” one girl said, “and all the rest aren’t trying to get out of the streets.” She went on to explain that our work didn’t change any of that. The people who were grateful for us already had permanent residence in their near future, and those who weren’t grateful didn’t have and didn’t want permanent housing.

My own experience leads me to disagree with her. I spent most of my time in the kitchen- peeling and chopping vegetables, stirring food, washing dishes, and sweeping the floor. The work in itself was satisfying; I could literally see our hard work come together and take shape before my eyes. But when the meals were brought out, I ventured into the lounge where the residents and AWB volunteers would eat and speak together.

My fears came true in that some of the residents didn’t talk to us, some complained about the food, one woman even told us she would spend the whole day away from PATH when she heard we would be there until the evening. But for each of those people who did not like us, there were others who praised us for our work. Deep in their heart every person wants someone to listen to them speak. This is true for everyone, young and old, conservative and liberal, homeless or sheltered. Having someone listen to you makes you feel worth something. Many residents told us they were grateful we spent our time with them. A man named Harold told me we made his Christmas night better, Michael took some of us to the garage to play with his dog, Manman. Others simply said that the food was good and that they enjoyed it, that ninety percent of the people who were in the room wouldn’t have been there if we hadn’t been there.

What feedback! Not only were we productive, but the residents of PATH enjoyed the food and our company!

These last few days will be forever etched in my memory, and I know that the people of PATH Hollywood have done more for me than I for them, if only by allowing us to hear their stories. By listening to them I have heard some of the best advice I could ever hope to receive.

“Don’t feel immortal,” one woman told us. “But don’t be afraid.” And another man’s last words to us were to “Always be strong.”

These people have been through the worst misfortunes and still they manage to find the strength in themselves to continue on and impart their knowledge to us. In my eyes that is the greatest gift one can receive.

~ Marni Libby – 11th Grade, Delmar, NY

Over the past few days in Los Angeles the LA AWB group has been volunteering at an organization called PATH (People Assisting the Homeless).  For me personally, as well as the teens and my fellow staff, we have had such a meaningful experience, whether it was actually cooking food with fresh ingredients for the residents, or sitting down and talking to them about all sorts of things.  We were able to personalize the issue of homelessness as well as get to know these people because we returned to the same place three days in a row. Even upon seeing us there day after day, the residents had smiles on their faces.  It was also even more meaningful for me to be able to see these high schoolers really converse with and care about these individuals.

After having such meaningful experiences we were able to unwind with Shabbat.  We took this time to really reflect on our experiences and relax before we started more volunteering on Sunday.  Part of Shabbat was also the ability to incorporate certain YJ traditions into the trip.  We did Kabbalat Shabbat, Oneg, Parsha Players, Havdalah, Rikud, etc.  Doing these activities strengthened the community that we already had formed volunteering during the week.  In addition, we were able to really learn and think about all that we had done on the trip
already.  We really took Shabbat to be the way it should be, a chance to stop what we are doing and just relax as well as reflect.  We did an activity where we asked the participants on a scale of 1-10 how much they agree with different statements.  It ranged from reasons why they were on this trip, the issue of homelessness as a whole, and the importance or impact of the stuff that we have done so far.  It was really interesting and important for everyone to see what the kids have been thinking about the trip and how important the issue of homelessness was becoming to them.

I also felt the impact of the trip for myself.  I haven’t thought about homelessness like this before now.  I know that I will be more involved with this issue after our trip is over because it has opened
my eyes to how big this issue truly is.  When I was a participant on AWB NOLA in 2011, I remember my experiences very well and still remember it to this day.  I hope that these participants will feel the same way.

~ Hannah Greenwald attends Rochester University and is from Westchester, NY