Jteen Leadership’s Trip to the Rockaways and Brooklyn 2013 By Rachel Mufson

JTeen Leadership JTeen Leadership is an organization the builds leadership in teens through community service work. What makes JTeen unique is that teens plan and lead projects.

What did I learn? During my time in The Rockaways and Brooklyn with the JTeen kehilah, I learned how atrocities can be overcome with hard work and dedication. I felt so great to help people in need and to hear inspiring stories from Sandy Victims.

Friends Of Rockaway Friends of Rockaway is an organization in Queens where volunteers from all over the country help rebuild homes that were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. One of the coordinator’s of Friends of Rockaway was named Megan and she was our Far Rockaway advisor.

Food Pantry When we first arrived in Brooklyn we stopped at the JCCRP Food Pantry. At the food pantry we learned that all people were allowed to receive food; however, they were only allowed to come once a month with their own grocery bag. Abbe Marcus, the head of Jteen even stated “ last time I was here, people were around the corner waiting for food.” The food pantries of Far Rockaway are so vital. They provided food, emergency funds and more importantly hope for many people.

Maragret McNulty’s House Maragret McNulty is a women who’s bottom floor in her house was totally destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Her husband died the year before and she needed to rent out her top floor just to make ends meet. Unfortunately, due to her financial situation, her son’s had to choose which one would go to college. Friends of Rockaway put her on the top of their list to make her home suitable and furnished to live in.

Let’s Get to Work! For about 2 hours about each morning we primed, shaved and sanded the walls. It was hard work but we got it done! In the end, the house looked like a success!

The Soup Kitchen The Last day in Far Rockaway we went to a soup kitchen called “Masbiah.” Masbiah in Hebrew means satisfied and that was the goal of this Soup kitchen. We met a nice man named Joseph Steinburger who is the director of Masbiah. He serves about 600 people per day and uses volunteers as waiters. He stops serving at 3:00pm and begins preparing early in the morning. As volunteers, we chopped zucchini and peeled potatoes.

A strong Kehilah Kehliah means Community and during this Jteen Leadership, trip I learned that working together as a close community made the work that our group accomplished easier and very fun. We got a chance to really get to know each other and meet new people. I especially had a wonderful experience spending time with people from my school and having a chance to bond with new teens.

THE END!!!