In many ways, the state of service and volunteering in the United States is strong – each year, about 65 million Americans contribute their time and energy to addressing the needs of individuals and communities. In mid-March, however, the current Administration proposed a 2018 budget that would eliminate federal funding for, among many programs, the…
In the year since Daniella Moffson’s tragic death, many of her friends – and even some complete strangers – have been honoring her memory by raising money for causes she cared about. Moffson, 21, was one of three people killed in a bus crash in Honduras last January when the vehicle, which carried 25 Columbia…
I spent Yom Kippur this year dipping pork chops in olive oil, preparing lunch for the clients of St. John’s Bread and Life, an amazing anti-poverty organization in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. It marked a significant transformation from my upbringing: I grew up in one of the few religious households in a Conservative synagogue in Hamilton, Ontario,…
This piece is part of a series of perspectives from Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award Recipients on their experiences in philanthropic work. When I was 11 years old, I came upon a homeless man near my house, dressed in just a t-shirt and jeans, on what was by far, the coldest day of the year….
(Haaretz) — Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki has sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon and a number of Western foreign ministers asking them to bring to trial their citizens who serve in the Israeli army or volunteer with the military for alleged war crimes commited in Gaza. Haaretz received a copy of…
The circumstances of Andrew Driscoll Pochter’s death were just emerging when the questions began: What was a Jewish boy doing in Egypt? How could he have been naive enough to get involved in a protest? Why wasn’t he in Israel instead? Pochter, raised in a Jewish home in Chevy Chase, Md., active in Hillel at…
More than a month after Hurricane Sandy swept ashore, Charlie Messler had all but lost hope of getting government help to rebuild the home that was originally built by his grandfather nearly six decades ago. Desperate to restore the ruined ground floor, Messler considered selling part of his vintage car collection, which includes a pair…
There were fallen trees everywhere. Twisted electricity pylons and crushed white picket fences littered the dark roadside as our Red Cross vehicle made its way to Locust Valley High School, in Long Island’s Nassau County. The roads were a labyrinth of dead-ends as a result of fallen debris and wrecked cars. Yet this was the…
