Alternative Winter Break Giggles and Smiles

By Year Round Programs
Adam Brings YJ to Gentilly

Today we thew a party for Gentilly Terrace Charter School. Although only a few kids showed up it was wonderful  meeting almost all the kids. Throughout the event we connected with the children over games like duck, duck goose and ninja. At the end of the party gifts were given away to all the kids. They all were appreciative of the gifts and seeing their smiles was the best part of the night.

Going to the school today was a great experience. We threw a Christmas party with food and presents for less fortunate children in the area. It seemed like this type of interaction was right up the alley of all of the chanichim and madrichim. Working at camp, we know how to deal with younger kids and our chanichim have learned a lot about leadership in Young Judaea.  We were to interact with all of the kids who showed up and they were probably between the ages of five and nine. There were so many games our chanichim came up with to play and seeing the smile on everyone’s faces let me know this Christmas party was a success. What was touching about seeing this is the joy it brought to all of the little kids faces. We obviously can’t change their whole lives, but in that one moment they were all giggles and smiles. I talked to one kid and he had never been outside of Louisiana let alone New Orleans. It makes you put things into perspective showing how lucky some of us really are.

~ Adam Bershad – Temple University, West Windsor, NJ

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