Community Service at BT: Just Do It!

"Fulfilling the Torah is more important than its study. " - Avot, 1:17

“Just do it.” - Nike

At Beth Tfiloh, community service is not just a requirement to graduate; it’s an expression of our Jewish heritage and values. Chesed is taught in the classroom and demonstrated by our teachers and faculty. BT students are encouraged to volunteer both at school and outside it, helping to foster a culture of giving within our school family and extending that culture into the greater Baltimore community.

Even the youngest BT students understand the importance of helping others. The Lower School’s Student Council has a Simcha Committee whose focus is to bring joy to others. Three years ago, third grade teacher Mrs. Henny Laifer saw that Gevuras Yarden/Jewish Caring Network, a Baltimore-based non-profit organization that provides support services to families facing life-threatening, lifelong, or serious illnesses, has an annual holiday toy drive. And a new opportunity for BT chesed was born.

“BT is the most amazing school,” says Stacey Goldenberg, Gevuras Yarden’s Director of Operations and Volunteer Services. “The toys they donate are such perfect toys for the children in the hospital and their siblings.”

With more than half of the BT LS schools’ families contributing to the toy drive, Gevuras Yarden was able to distribute toys to the 70 families with children receiving their not just at Chanukah, but year-round. “They’ve brought smiles to so many children’s lives,” shares Mrs. Goldenberg . “It’s life altering. I try to express that to the students when I come to pick up the donated toys – they should really know, they’re changing lives.”

As our middle schoolers approach bar and bat mitzvah age, they learn that with adulthood comes additional responsibility – especially to the community. To help impart this message, the B’nei Mitzvah offers participants the opportunity to serve others, and learn to appreciate what they have.

When Hannah C. ’16 was in 8th grade, she and her whole family volunteered at Helping Up Mission, a long-term residential Spiritual Recovery Program for men with drug and alcohol addiction. Along with several other families with children in the BT B’nei Mitzvah program, Hannah and her family got a tour of the facility, talked to some of the residents and served dinner.

“It was a really different experience, really good for the kids to see what goes in the world, outside of Pikesville,” notes Hannah’s mom, Jill Spector.

Hannah found her experience not only enjoyable, but educational, too. “I learned a lot about overcoming struggles,” Hannah reports. “The people who live in the Helping Up Mission are recovering from a drug or alcohol addiction. To hear these people talk about their lives and how they are learning to get better really makes you think about making better decisions and helping others.”

Sometimes, the students themselves bring the opportunities to BT. When Ari Goldstein ‘12 learned about Habitat for Humanity’s Build-a-Block program, where school clubs in the local area work together toward building a block of houses in Baltimore, he knew this was something that he wanted to bring to BT.

During his junior year, Ari teamed up with classmate Joseph Troy ’12. The two worked in concert with a Habitat staff person, HS Principal Rabbi Frank and Youth Director and Director of Co-Curricular Programs Cherie Brownstein, to get the Habitat club launched, enlisting Director of Student Support Services Debbie Disney as the club’s faculty advisor.

“I believe that Habitat has been very impactful for the people involved with it,” comments Ari. “In our first meeting, we had 25 people…who were also dedicated to Habitat for Humanity.”

Ari notes that the club members have invested great amounts of energy into their projects, which to date include making blankets for earthquake victims in Haiti, and donating proceeds from club-created bracelets to a cross-country Habitat mission in which a Beth Tfiloh alumnus was participating. Currently, BT’s Habitat club members are making benches and tables to donate to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which sells home goods and uses proceeds to benefit Habitat’s other programs.

“I hope that the people involved with Habitat take their passion and use it in the future for other projects, whether with Habitat for Humanity or with other good causes,” he says. “The projects we have taken part in have also affected people outside the community. I sincerely believe that Habitat has and will continue to have a major impact in the lives of both Beth Tfiloh students and others outside of our community.”

Some needs in the community are so great, it takes an entire school to make a difference. One example is the bi-monthly HELP: Homeless Extra Lunch Program, where students in all divisions are asked to bring in an extra lunch that gets donated to the Hannah More Shelter. Sponsored by the High School Student Government, the Lower School and Middle School Student Councils, and the PreSchool Tikkun Olam Committee, nearly 2,700 lunches are donated through the HELP program by BT families to feed homeless women and children living in the shelter’s transitional housing.

And the needs extend beyond Baltimore's borders...all the way to Israel. Our High School and Middle School students have held several fundraisers this year, providing our brave IDF soldiers with a big menorah and 500 soufganiot tto enhance their Chanukah celebration.

Another example of a school-wide response to communal needs is the annual Clothing Drive. Six years ago, Debbie Disney was talking with BT parent Julie Simhi who is a social worker at the Wolf Street Academy, a public charter elementary school located near the Johns Hopkins hospital campus. “We were talking about how there are children there who don’t have coats or weather-appropriate clothes for winter,” remembers Mrs. Simhi. “So we came up with the idea to organize a drive at BT and distribute clothing at Wolf Street Academy.”

But that was just the beginning. When Julie mentioned the drive to friend and Abba Moving owner Lior Dayan, and explained that they needed a way to transport all the donations downtown, Mr. Dayan offered to donate his company’s trucks, manpower and supplies. “Lior has done this for free for six years, so the clothing drive is at virtually no cost to anyone,” Julie points out.

And for the past six years, BT families have responded with overwhelming generosity, filling at least one large moving truck…sometimes two! The truckloads of clothing are brought to the Wolf Street Academy, and are set up in the school’s cafeteria for distribution to community members.

The annual clothing drive has become a critical resource in the Wolf Street Academy’s neighborhood. “Our families count on it now,” says Mrs. Simhi. “Families come in and really make good use of everything. It is truly a great thing, from people’s hands to people’s hands.”