Serving the Community

By: Ethan Fleischer​

When talking to high schoolers, the phrase "community service" seems to have a negative connotation sometimes. Something about taking time away from our busy, fun summer schedules just doesn't appeal to most people. That being said, I've decided to spend the first couple weeks of my summer break giving back to the community. Before looking at the long list of organizations in need of volunteers, I emailed the Jewish Federation because helping the Jewish community has more of an effect on my life than anything else would have.

 

A year ago, if someone had asked me how I'd spend my summer before senior year, I probably wouldn't have answered "doing community service,” but this past year has brought me outside my comfort zone to realize the bigger picture. There are less fortunate people who benefit from small acts of community service, and if more people donated even the smallest amount of time, then there would be less people who struggle in this world. 

 

Last year, I served as the “Godol” (President) of the Indianapolis AZA chapter of BBYO. During those 2 terms, we collected canned foods at every AZA event to donate to Popsie's Pantry. It all started after our Hunger Games Watch Party, where we collected donated foods from 200 teens who participated. After seeing so many of our friends participate in this simple act of kindness, we decided to make hunger our stand-up cause for the semester, and we've been fighting world hunger ever since. We are committed to helping those in need of food by donating whenever we can.

 

While I’m proud that we’ve been able to donate so many items to Popsie’s Pantry, we don’t always donate our time. This is something I hope will change, because serving the community can be a positive experience for all those that are committed to helping. Although it's a pretty redundant saying, people definitely get out what they put in; and the work I've put in has had an extremely positive effect on my aspiration to help the community in any way possible. 

 

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