I personally have benefitted tremendously from oorah. I remember when I was in twelfth grade thinking that my only relationship with them was the fact that they contributed towards the cost of my day school tuition, I mean, my mom was the one learning with a Torah Mate (and she is not religious, but nevertheless, that is the highlight of her week). Then I went on Discover U because I needed to go in order to get my scholarship money for this year from oorah. I honestly did not enjoy my time there because I didn’t really know anyone at the time and I thought it was a major turn off… BUT, once I got to Israel, I realized that most seminary girls are not able to just have a place to go every saturday night to chill, don’t have the option of automatically having a place to stay every other week, don’t have the ability to access numerous resources that I was able to access when I needed to switch schools, and if they do not have family that is religious that will open their doors to them- they are just stuck going to strangers houses for shabbos. As much as I used to dread having a relationship with oorah, I can honestly say that oorah has had a huge impact on my year, and I am now closer with the people I went on Discover U with than I was when I was there and since I am not exactly in a bais yaakov seminary right now, I am glad that I am able to have a more bais yaakov connection that I can count on. I am telling you, it is completely worth funding, the girls that benefit from oorah are an amazing group of girls, and even though there are a number of other places to give tzedakah to, oorah really goes all out and they are very accessible to people who are involved.
