Patrita Tripp, 20, hasn’t had a regular residence since she left her aunt’s house at the age of 12. Previous years were marked by neglect and repeated rapes at the hands of her half-brothers.
Her teen years of prostitution, drugs and abusive boyfriends were no better. When Tripp got pregnant last year, she decided to get help.
Cradling her 9-month-old son, she told her story to more than 20 UAHC Camp Swig teens on Thursday of last week. They had come to volunteer at St. Joseph’s Village for Homeless Children and Families in San Francisco, where Tripp is now living.
The tzedakah was part of the camp’s political action, or Hevrah Day, in which teens, ages 13 to 17, lobbied lawmakers, performed political drama and protested welfare cuts to legal immigrants. The Saratoga camp is under the aegis of the Reform movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
The focus of their protest, organizers said, was Gov. Pete Wilson’s welfare reform program called the California Temporary Assistance Program (CalTAP), which proposes to place time limits and special conditions on welfare to unemployed families with children. Wilson also proposes to revoke welfare to many immigrants.
Hevrah Day was the culmination of a three-week program that equipped the Swig campers with a social conscience by taking a close look at societal problems through a Jewish lens.
“The kids are at an age where they are starting to question authority, norms and test boundaries,” said Camp Swig’s Jeff Meyers, a program coordinator. “It’s a great time to take all this creative energy and put it to use.”
Meyers and Swig’s staff of Reform rabbis spent the three weeks familiarizing campers with welfare reform issues and Jewish law.
“None of us are experts,” admitted Meyers, a political science major in college, but most of the staff are socially savvy and politically active, he said.
The kids learned about 11th-century Jewish theologian Moses Maimonides as well as Catholic concepts of charity. They engaged in mock debates and called their state representatives.
Though campers were encouraged to form their own opinions, Meyers said there “does seem to be some consensus that the Jewish way is to support those in need.”
After painting the recreation room at St. Joseph’s Village, the Swig campers chatted with Tripp and cooed at little Tarence. Some remarked that they, too, could find themselves on the street one day.
Mike Dillon, 14, of Poway, said he feared for the St. Joseph’s lodgers and others who will be affected by CalTAP.
“It’s going to put lower-income people on the streets, and more people will resort to a homeless life.”
The shelter visit was nothing new to Jenny Sloane, 17, of Martinez, who has volunteered over the years with North American Federation of Temple Youth.
“Last time I did this I was carrying frozen turkeys in the rain on Christmas,” she quipped.
Other campers, too, participated in charitable activities with their synagogues, youth groups and families.
Jessica Hyde, 15, of Seattle gives 10 percent of her allowance to charity, and Zachary Singer, 15, of Los Angeles said he had an apple in his pocket that he hoped to give to a homeless person.
Seven other Swig groups attended missions that day.
They lobbied an assistant to the Democratic Assemblywoman Elaine White Alquist at her Santa Clara offices, circulated petitions against CalTAP and performed political theater in Golden Gate Park.
At Hamilton Family Shelter on Waller Street, another group learned how homeless families could work their way through the shelter system to get housing and jobs.
A shelter worker explained that there were up to 80 homeless families on San Francisco’s streets but only enough shelter beds for 30 of them.
The campers helped to paint and clean up the shelter’s medical clinic and organized the children’s library.
At the end of their day, they had a political tefillah (prayer session) at Civic Center and shared their revelations about the day. Several homeless onlookers asked for siddurim (prayer books) and joined in.
While volunteer work was not new to the more socially active youths, others said the experience has provided much to ponder in the days and weeks to come.
Most said it was fun and gratifying to help others by protesting CalTAP and volunteering. But many seemed unclear on the larger picture of welfare reform. When asked, few seemed to have much understanding about why one would oppose the welfare status quo.
Many were unfamiliar with the concepts of a balanced budget and the national deficit, nor did they realize that the money funding welfare ultimately comes from taxpayers’ pockets.
Several campers said they had learned only a little about the Republican position when they engaged in a mock debate one evening. The Republican position was boiled down to a “factoid sheet,” one camper said.
Nevertheless, Hilary Oleon, 14, of Orinda said the program has spurred her to be more conscious of current events.
Though she vowed to read the newspaper more in the future, Oleon admitted that she feels more uncertain about complex social issues like welfare reform.
“I’m being handed a piece of paper and told what to say,” She then asked herself, “`But do I really know?’ and I don’t.”