The clock continues to count down to the Pomegranate Day of Giving for Youth, a massive one day fundraising effort by 20 organizations to raise $2 million for at risk teens.  The campaign will be a 24 hour, all or nothing effort to be all held on the Charidy platform with all donations to be quadrupled by unnamed donors.

Over the last several years the number of kids in crisis in the Orthodox Jewish community has grown at an alarming rate.  Without any intervention, the results can be disastrous, but with proper assistance and guidance by carefully chosen and caring professionals, even those who have strayed can find their way back to a healthy and productive lifestyle.

While there are many agencies that deal with education, crisis intervention and rehabilitation, the importance of properly structured drop in centers, cannot be overstated.  Serving a variety of different demographics, drop in centers offer recreational activities, healthy social interaction and guidance to those who need an extra dose of unconditional love and support, while others drop in centers are a last resort, the only place in the Jewish community where all are welcome, no matter what.  In those cases, drop in centers are more than just a casual hangout; they are a safe haven, away from drugs and crime, where shooting pool, a hot meal and a feeling of acceptance and belonging are hopefully a prelude to the greater possibility of a brighter future.

Both drop in centers and summer camps provide unrivaled opportunities for meaningful discussion and personal growth. Their more relaxed atmosphere is conducive to creating positive relationships and providing opportunities for growth that are difficult to duplicate in more formal settings.

Located in Los Angeles, Aish Tamid has been using a dynamic in-reach program in a therapeutic environment, helping teens and young adults find themselves, reconnect with the Jewish community and become productive members of society for the past 15 years.  Specializing in crisis intervention, case management, and emergency response, Aish Tamid uses a one on one approach to establish bonds of support and trust with youth and parents alike.  Serving more than 350 boys annually, in the past year alone Aish Tamid has placed 40 boys in yeshiva, assisted 60 young men with job referrals and helped 35 teens and young adults set structured goals for their educational future.

Providing physical, spiritual, emotional and vocational support to hundreds of young men each year, the Brooklyn-based Aliyais dedicated to in-reach, helping young adults to become healthy, stable and fully functioning members of the Jewish community.  Over the past year Aliya’s dedicated professional staff has assisted approximately 20 young men in finding accommodations, helped six young men enter rehabilitation programs, aided over 100 young men find gainful employment and arranged GED and college courses for over 20 young men.   With an in-house, highly qualified and subsidized therapist offering complete confidentiality, career counseling referrals, a fully equipped gym, regular minyanim, 10 daily shiurim, uplifting shabbatons and wholesome food, Aliya is a safe recreational facility that has become an important part of the day for so many young men.

Aliya Girls – The Girls Loft is a full time drop-in center for school aged and post-school aged girls in Crown Heights. Their programming focuses on filling in the gaps between home and school, with creative arts classes, open forum group therapy sessions and entrepreneurial opportunities through a series of small businesses.   Dedicated professionals devote their time to building trust with the girls in order to help them face their unique challenges, getting them emotional and legal help when appropriate, obtaining school placements and repairing parent/child relationships as needed.  Over the past year, The Girls Loft attracted over 950 girls and ran 96 successful programs.

“Everyone has a back story and we all need help from each other,” explained administrator Rabbi Meir New. “That’s what happens at The Girls Loft. It is a community of young women and girls helping each other.”

Aliya Youth Space is a drop-in center in Australia dedicated to serving the Melbourne Jewish community’s youth who seek an alternative to mainstream Jewish institutions. The warm, friendly and non-judgmental environment at Aliya Youth Space encourages self-expression, builds self-esteem and creates lasting relationships while supporting career development.  The only organization of its kind in Australia, Aliya Youth Space has helped young adults kicked out of their homes by their parents do a complete turnaround, going on to lead fully observant Jewish lives.

“You need a place where young people can just hang, be themselves and not be judged,” said director Rabbi Yakov Feiglin. “Only then you can try and help them. By Aliya being that place, Judaism gets the credit instead of other unfavorable youth hot-spots, and hopefully that will pay dividends down the road.”

Located in Baltimore, the Chananya Backer Memorial Institute offers a series of programs designed to help struggling teens lead healthy lives while simultaneously strengthening their connection to their yiddishkeit and the Jewish community. A division of Yeshivas Lev Shlomo, the program stresses the importance of personal growth, self improvement, healthy living habits, healthy interpersonal relationships and the value of Jewish learning and identity.   Using innovative programming centered around Jewish learning, CBMI ensures that their teens are capable of functioning productively and becoming contributing members of Jewish society.

The Center works with Jewish youth in South Florida ages 17 through 30 who are dealing with challenges such as livelihood choices, overcoming adversity, and the search for identity, meaning, and happiness.  Furthermore, many of them have been victims of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or are simply jaded by the hypocrisy of their leaders, teachers, or parents.  The Center provides a warm, fun and non-judgmental environment for Jewish young men, equipping them with the requisite tools to overcome the challenges of transitioning from youth to emerging adulthood, and guiding them towards discovering their own unique and fulfilling life purpose. Thanks to the Center’s efforts, more than 25 boys have gone back to yeshiva, over 15 have started college, and upwards of a dozen have gotten married.  Countless others have gone on to start their own business, build successful careers or have enlisted in the IDF to help protect the land of Israel.

“Our sages teach us, ‘whoever saves a life, it’s considered as if he saved an entire world,’” said founder and executive director Matishyahu Abarbanel.  “With G-d’s help, The Center has had a positive impact on the lives of over 1,800 South Florida Jewish youth.”

Our Place Boys and Our Place Girls serve a collective 700 young adults each year, providing a vast array of services to meet a variety of needs. Founded in 1998, Our Place was a pioneer in the drop in center movement in the Jewish community and over the years has served as the prototype for other similar facilities that serve the Orthodox Jewish population. Many of those who come to Our Place have been failed by the system, often being expelled from school or kicked out by their parents.  Our Place offers not only hot meals and a friendly smile, it provides opportunities to build relationships with mentors and friends, through its fully stocked facility which includes a pool hall, a music room, a computer area, games, a television and a full gym.  From ski trips to shabbatons, from distance races to weekly cholents, Our Place uses engaging recreational activities to keep teenagers coming back so that they can begin the healing process and become whole, as well as offering onsite therapists, school & job placement services and GED programs.

“For some of the kids we get Our Place is literally their last stop in the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Aryeh Young director of Our Place.  “They feel like there is no one in the Jewish world who cares about them, and they know that when they come to Our Place they are in a place where they matter, where someone is happy to offer them a free dinner accompanied by unconditional love and unwavering support.”

The Torah Youth Center helps Cleveland’s youth, teens and young adults by providing family counseling, a fully equipped drop in center, mentors and tutors. Working with local schools to identify children at risk, The Center provides intervention and run Shabbos programs, trips, overnights and arranges extra-curricular activities including Zumba and music lessons.  TYC, which is currently involved with over 50 kids, also offers a very successful job placement program.

“I was told by many members, ‘If not for TYC I would have been on the street doing who knows what,’” said Rabbi Aharon Lebovics, director of TYC.

While drop in centers are extremely effective tools for forging crucial bonds and are often the catalyst for serious, positive change, summer camps create an intense experience that can quickly foster lifelong relationships and be crucial turning points in participants’ lives.

Gav’s Boys is a cross country summer program run by Amudim, with a small group of teenage boys that are teetering on the brink spending six weeks together enjoying thrilling activities, building solid relationships and learning about themselves.  Traveling through over a dozen states, the program is extremely fluid and combines exhilarating adventure with heartfelt emotional connections.

“Summer camp provides kids that would have otherwise been on the street with a unique opportunity to find themselves in a conventional, non-judgmental, therapeutic, emotionally healthy environment,” explained Rabbi Moshe Frankel, director of Gav’s Boys. “Camp is more than a one month summer experience.  It is a family, a lifestyle, and they are now part of us throughout the year.  We are intimately involved in their lives and they become part of the family.”

Project Extreme’s participants come from across North America, Israel and England to attend year round programs, including Miryam’s House, Camp Extreme Boys, Camp Extreme Girls, weekend retreats, shabbatons, yom tov programs and more. Each Project Extreme program boasts a 1:1 staff to participant ratio with an on-site licensed therapist, creating a safe and structured environment. Project Extreme’s summer programs and retreats take participants out of their negative surroundings, thereby removing life’s distractions such as internet and social media and immerses them in a therapeutic environment that allows them the opportunity to focus on healthy relationships and personal growth.

Other organizations that are taking part in the Charidy campaign are Amudim, Yedidim, Center Girls – Merkaz Rochel, Regesh, Tekuma, Retorno, The Living Room, Saving Lives Coalition, SAFE Foundation, Matara, Ohr Yitzchok, Yeshivas Lev Shlomo, BJX and Bais Menachem Youth Development Program.

To learn more about the Pomegranate Giving Day for Youth or to consider participating, please contact Rabbi Aryeh Young at 516-512-4494 or at [email protected].

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