On Monday, March 21, students, parents, grandparents, and members of the greater Jewish community gathered to attend B’nai Tzedek’s Grant Reception. Sarah VanderWalde, Director of Programs at the Jewish Foundation of Memphis, facilitates this annual event, when students in the teen philanthropy program present awards directly to agency representatives.
As part of B’nai Tzedek programming, teens are given the opportunity to participate in a formal grants process from start to finish equipped with $10,000 to donate back into the Memphis Jewish community. This year, the teens reviewed eleven applications before deciding how to allocate the grant money. Nine grants were awarded, including funding the crisis in Ukraine, newcomer welcome bags and Dignity Grows through Memphis Jewish Federation, the Sandwich Project for Baron Hirsch Congregation, Creative Aging in the Mid-South programs for Plough Towers’ residents, and Maccabi Summer Games, inclusive summer camp and JFamily for the Memphis Jewish Community Center.
“How many people in the community will benefit?” “Is this truly needed for your organization or is it nice to have?” Those were the types of questions discussed among the group of 7th thru 12th graders and ultimately posed to the agencies who applied for grants. Then the students ranked each application on a variety of criteria including consistency with Jewish values, creativity and clarity, whether the project is needed in the community, and whether it will change the lives of those it serves.
Talya M. and Dahlia S., 9th graders at the Margolin Hebrew Academy, presented the award to Baron Hirsch for the Sandwich Project. They mentioned how B’nai Tzedek has funded the program in the past and have actively participated by making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. “Just yesterday, seventeen of us got together at Baron Hirsch and made 450 sandwiches,” said Dahlia S.
“Did you know, nearly 30% of girls and women in the US suffer from period poverty?” said Meredith E. and Natalie S., 8th grade students at Riverdale and Bornblum Jewish Community School. They presented $1500 to Dignity Grows, an initiative that provides a one-month supply of period and hygiene products to those in need. “Our B’nai Tzedek group already packed 150 bags on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Those bags were distributed to Ridgeway High School and Room in the Inn.” Memphis Jewish Federation recently became a chapter of Dignity Grows and received enough money from B’nai Tzedek to fill and donate 100 more tote bags to community partners.
Receiving its first B’nai Tzedek grant was Beth Sholom’s Tikkun Olam committee for the Journey Coleman School Gift Shop Project. Kyra J., Eve P., and Wallis R., 9th grade students at St. Mary’s Episcopal School, presented the grant award to Susan Moinster who accepted the grant on the committee’s behalf. The students explained the program and how they decided to allocate $1250 instead of the $750 that was requested in the grant application. “The Journey Coleman school, a K-8 school is in Raleigh, an area of Memphis that most of us had never heard of before. We learned that this school is Title 1 and in a low economic area. Every year around the holidays, Beth Sholom creates a Gift Shop in the school’s gym. Beth Sholom volunteers fill the gym with hundreds of holiday gifts. We learned from the grant proposal that there are 675 students at the school…when we saw that the grant asked for $750, we did the math and decided that these students deserve more.”
Benny F., Nathan G., Jack K., Shoshanah K., Ilan L., Jonathan M., Brooke S., Jack S., and Ethan V. also presented grants during the reception.
“B’nai Tzedek is a great way for the youth of our community to learn about tzedakah,” said Anthony Morrison, Board Chair of Jewish Foundation of Memphis. “This is the 20th year of the program and it’s incredible watching the impact it has had on our students and community.”
Any teen who has become Bar or Bat Mitzvah can join B’nai Tzedek at any time. Fill out the form online jcpmemphis.org/teen-philanthropy or contact Sarah VanderWalde at the Jewish Foundation of Memphis at svanderwalde@jcpmemphis.org for more information and to sign up.