July 2010

Around Town

Local Teens Honored for Their
Commitment to Helping Others

On Wednesday evening, June 2, parents and teens gathered together for an evening of recognition and award ceremony for TFC - Teens for The Community, a group of close to fifty high school teens who get together each Thursday evening to do different community service projects.

The evening began with opening remarks by Rabbi Mendel Silberstein, director and founder of TFC, who thanked all the teens involved as well as their parents who support the program. He then presented a beautiful silver plated shofar to Mr. David Everett of Larchmont whose family is a strong supporter of TFC.

Mrs. Martha Kaplan, whose son Joey is on the board of TFC, spoke on behalf of all the parents. She explained how much the teens gain from this program, noting one incident when her son Joey went to a homeless shelter to run a carnival and met a girl living at the shelter whom he actually knew before her family became homeless. Through this, he became much more sensitive to the unfortunate homeless members in the community.

David Rabinowitz, a sophomore at MHS and a TFC board member too, spoke on how he originally joined TFC to hang out with friends. However, he recalled how it didn’t take long for him to start appreciating and wanting to come back week after week to participate in the community service projects.

The evening continued with the Mayor of Larchmont, Mr. Josh Mandell, who presented the teens with certificates of honor and gifts. The teens who came nearly every week received an elegant silver and wood Tzedaka (charity) box, while the graduating teens received a striking brass menorah to take along to college next year.

After showing a video titled “Top 10 Reasons We Love TFC”, the teens departed looking forward to participating in TFC once again in the fall. (To watch this video go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGMDuiz1hxY)
Some of the community service projects the teens did this year:

• Prepared Sushi rolls and hundreds of sandwiches for the homeless of HOPE Community Services, Inc.
• Baked challah and hamantashen with developmentally challenged adults
• Made scarves for children living at My Sister’s Place
• Ran a clothing drive for The Clothes Closet of Mamaroneck
• Decorated the Sukkahs at Sarah Neuman and United Hebrew Geriatric Center
• Ran a food drive for the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Hunger Task Force, Inc.
• Decorated holiday cards for and visited the residents at The Esplanade in White Plains
• Performed a Chanukah show and made crafts with a group of developmentally challenged adults
• Ran a carnival at the Coachman Family Homeless Shelter
• Made beautiful edible arrangements for seniors in Larchmont
• Recorded books onto CD for blind children in Israel
• Placed wood chips at the Sheldrake Environmental Center near Sheldrake Lake

TFC is a project of Chabad of Larchmont and Mamaroneck. www.JewishLarchmont.com.

 

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