Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

J-Serve is the International Day of Jewish Youth Service. Since 2005, J-Serve has been a part of Youth Service America’s Global Youth Service Day weekend. J-Serve provides teens with the opportunity to fulfill the Jewish values of gemilut chasidim, acts of loving kindness, tzedakah, just and charitable giving, and tikkum olam, the responsibility to repair the world. Across the globe, teens join each other to make their community and the world a better place. J-Serve 2015 is in partnership with Repair the World, Youth Service America, and Rock the Vote, and is generously underwritten by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

As a prestigious leadership position, applications are currently being accepted for the 2014-2015 J-Serve Teen Task Force for 8-12th graders. As a member of the Task Force, teens will have the opportunity to plan and create the 2015 J-Serve projects, be a community leader, develop practical skills such as marketing, fundraising and event planning, as well as to give back to the greater Orlando community. Please email Robby Etzkin at RobbyE@orlandojcc.org for a J-Serve Teen Task Force Application.

The Orlando J-Serve 2014 Teen Task Force was led by Jonah Goldberg (Lake Mary Prep, 10th grade), Matthew Gottfried (Sanford Middle, 8th grade), Taylor Harris (Virtual School, 10th grade), Sara Hoffen (Lake Mary, 11th grade), Brandon Levitt (Winter Park, 10th grade), Ilana Loory (Lake Brantley, 11th grade), Daniel Perreault (Lake Highland, 10th grade), Hannah Procell (Oviedo, 12th grade), Kyle Sabell (Apopka, 11th grade), and Sophie Schnaper (Winter Park, 12th grade). The teens developed and led a free carnival for children with underprivileged backgrounds. As an important community event, J-Serve was a collaboration of multiple Jewish agencies within Orlando and surrounding areas. The Teen Task Force hoped to build upon the success of the April 2014 event to reach more teens, more agencies, and more opportunities to make a difference in the community for J-Serve in 2015. Save the date for J-Serve in 2015 – April 12!

The J-Serve Teen Task Force applications are due on August 29, 2014. The Task Force is an application process to build a group of teens who share the desire to be a part of community service, with a variety of different skills and interests, and represent all Orlando Jewish youth groups. The beginning planning months in fall will focus on teambuilding and creating a vision or theme for J-Serve 2015. With adult staff support, teens will be involved in the planning and leading of the entire event, from marketing to fundraising to outreach to programming. Local professionals will speak to the Task Force about their expertise and Judaic components are woven throughout the planning.

For more information on Orlando’s J-Serve, please visit http://www.facebook.com/orlandojserve. For specific questions about the J-Serve Teen Task Force, please email Robby at RobbyE@orlandojcc.org.