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 2017 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 2016-2017 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 2017 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. Applications can be accessed online: https://orlandojcc.org/calendar/j-serve-teen-applications-now-open

The Orlando J-Serve 2016 Teen Task Force was led by Taylor Harris (Virtual School, 12th grade), Daniel Perreault (Lake Highland, 12th grade), Rebecca Michel (Winter Park, 11th grade), Noah Senderowitz (Trinity Prep, 11th grade), Eli Goldberg (Lyman High School, 10th grade), Alana Halperin (Lake Brantley High School, 10th grade), Sophie Libow (Winter Park High School, 10th grade), Jordan Harris (Winter Park High School, 9th grade) and Lila Hruby (Tuskawilla Middle School, 8th grade). The teens developed and led four different service sites partnering with different organizations throughout Orlando: Welbourne Avenue Nursery, New Hope for Kids, Deliver the Difference and Impower.

As an important community event, J-Serve was a collaboration of multiple Jewish agencies within Orlando and surrounding areas. The Teen Task Force hopes to build upon the success of the 2016 event to reach more teens, more agencies, and more opportunities to make a difference in the community for J-Serve in 2017.

Save the date for J-Serve in 2017-April 2!

The J-Serve Teen Task Force applications are due on Aug. 29, 2016. 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 2017. 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 Lory at LoryC@orlandojcc.org.