Even though the program required only one month of volunteer work, Elaina Marshalek couldn’t resist coming back again — and again.
Marshalek, a 16-year-old from San Mateo, didn’t expect the monthlong Mitzvah Corps — a program operated by the North American Federation of Temple Youth — to have a long-term effect. But since this year’s Mitzvah Corps ended, she’s returned several times to the community agencies where she worked.
“The more you do, the more you realize there is to be done,” she said. “In volunteering, we actively made a difference … I can’t say that if everyone put in a little it would make the world perfect, but it would help so much.”
Tikkun olam (repairing the world) was at the center of Bay Area Mitzvah Corps, a summer program from around the country to stay at San Francisco State University, volunteer by day at community agencies and attend educational and social programs at night.
The Bay Area program, in its third year, is one of four sites around the United States where members of NFTY, the youth initiative from the Union of Reform Judaism, dedicate their summer to volunteer work and social action.
Marshalek was one of 21 teens to participate in the program, and one of three from the Bay Area.
“I saw things I didn’t normally see in my own city,” she said. “I knew there were people in need, but I never realized to what extent.”
Students volunteered at two work sites during the month. They could choose from 826 Valencia, a creative writing center; the Janet Pomeroy Center, a nonprofit for people with developmental disabilities; Project Open Hands, a nutrition program for people living with HIV/AIDS; the Haight-Ashbury Food Program; and the Jewish Home for the Aged.
“Not only did this experience allow them to develop leadership skills and really contribute to the Jewish community, but their maturity level grew so much in that month,” said Sari Bourne, the program’s site coordinator. “They really understood what it’s like to be on the other side of the bubble.”
Bourne, 21, is a student at Stanford University. When she was a teenager living in New Jersey, she spent a summer with the similar Urban Mitzvah Corps in New Brunswick, N.J. She wanted to lead the Bay Area program to introduce other teenagers to the power of social action.
Mitzvah Corps teens worked with maturity and enthusiasm, Bourne said. She was impressed with how they handled adversity, and how they honestly discussed what they learned.
“There’s a big difference in saying that as Jews we are responsible to help others and in actually doing it,” said Gabriela Cellini, a teenager from Hillsborough.
Throughout the month, guest speakers talked about the connection between Judaism and social action. One speaker, a documentary filmmaker, participated in Mitzvah Corps when he was young. He talked about how it inspired him to blend his love of film with his passion for volunteerism.
Elena Cohen, 15, from Palo Alto said she learned the most at the Janet Pomeroy Center. She had little experience working with people with disabilities, and assumed their abilities would be more limited than they were. By the end of the program, she developed a close bond with several of the clients.
“It was more eye-opening than I expected,” Cohen said. “I genuinely had a fun time with them.”
Marshalek said she had a similar experience. She hadn’t worked with people with disabilities before, and didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as she did.
“After going to the center for a few days, the clients became regular people, friends you talk to, and you learn to see past the different disabilities they had,” she said.
The teens said the program isn’t for everyone. Marshalek said participants are forced into situations that challenge personal norms, and often work independently of the group.
“Prepare to go out of your comfort zone, and in doing so, your comfort zone expands,” Marshalek said. “You test yourself in doing these projects.”
For information about next year’s Bay Area Mitzvah Corps, visit www.nftymitzvahcorps.org/bayarea.html.