Written by Stephen B
Machon 2013
Upon being selected by the Jewish Teen Funders Network, a North American wide teen philanthropy program, our unit was given the ability to award a modest grant of $1000 to a non-profit organization. This meant we could learn about the process of giving a grant, reading completed proposals and visiting sites to hear more about different organizations. In our Machon unit, we decided early on that we wanted to choose an organization that exemplified our Jewish values and we wanted to ensure that the money would go to a laudable and deserving cause. Camp Kalsman is a Kehillah Kedosha, a sacred community valuing respect, compassion, and sustainability. We felt it a prerequisite to incorporate these fundamental values into our final decision.
During the program, we took a day trip to Seattle in order to meet with two organizations who submitted grant proposals. The first organization that we learned about was “The Rose International Fund for Children”, otherwise known as ‘TRIFC’. We met with the benevolent and convivial founder Robert Rose who gave us a short but compelling presentation on his organization. The primary mission of TRIFC is to improve the lives of children in Nepal, particularly those who have a disability. They raise awareness of these children’s conditions by documenting and publicizing their work and they firmly believe in the value of sharing resources with those less fortunate. After our gratifying meeting with Robert, we went for lunch and a tour at the next organization we received a grant proposal from – FareStart. FareStart provides a community that transforms lives by empowering homeless and disadvantaged men, women and families to achieve self-sufficiency through life skills, job training, and employment in the food service industry. Both organizations were worthy causes and we were faced with a daunting decision about which organization we would give our money to.
Frequent discussions were held about the two very different yet meritorious organizations, and as a unit we were split on which one our money was going towards. We wanted to reach a general consensus and, although it was difficult, we were eventually able to come up with a satisfying decision that we were all extremely happy with. After weeks of thoughtful, engaging, and captivating discussion, we decided that we would give our grant of $1000 to FareStart. The reason why we decided that would be the best use of the money was we felt it was the epitome of the CIT program – it represented who we were and complied with our Jewish Values. As CITs, over the course of the summer we were learning how to be counselors, which involved taking on responsibility and learning what core values would help us become respectable and empowering role models to others. The idea that the skills we learned as CITs are to be shared with others is representative of FareStart, as they give homeless people the priceless skill of learning how to cook, changing their lives and letting them have an impact on the lives of those around them. In addition to providing students with the culinary skills to succeed in the food service industry, FareStart provides individuals with crucial life skills needed to transform their lives both professionally and personally and we felt that the impact our grant would have wouldn’t just be on the one graduate who would be kept in his or her job thanks to it, but would allow for that graduate to positively impact other peoples lives as well and would be salubrious for all.
Eventually we reached a decision we were all happy with, and felt that we learned valuable life skills from our experience in the Jewish Teen Funders network. As we evolved as people during our time in the Machon program, we felt we were able to make a virtuous and reputable decision, and we are confident that our grant can have a positive impact and help change the lives of others.
