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December 12, 2003
Outreach to young Jews
USY reps visit Edmonton, Kadimanicks at Shabbaton.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Even a major snowstorm couldn't keep a group of parents and youth
in Edmonton from heading to that city's Beth Shalom Synagogue to
hear a presentation from two Vancouver representatives of the Pinwheel
Region of United Synagogue Youth (USY).
Kadima fieldworker Kyle Berger and youth director Neal Chark of
Pinwheel were in Edmonton Nov. 19 to promote their organization's
Kadima and USY programs.
Kadima is a youth group for Jewish kids in grades 6, 7 and 8, and
could be considered the junior program for USY, which is for teens
in grades 9 through 12. Pinwheel Region includes chapters in Richmond,
Vancouver, West Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, Seattle,
Mercer Island, Tri-Cities, Portland and Spokane, and has had participants
from Bellingham and Alaska. Regular meetings and programs are held
in those chapters, and regional and international staff often visit
chapters to promote programs.
"Beth Shalom has a small representation in USY," Berger
told the Bulletin. "It is difficult for them because
their community is small and travel is expensive for regional events.
"We try to make regular visits to Edmonton and Calgary in order
to continue our outreach because it is important that the youth
there feel that they have every opportunity to become involved and
receive the benefits of having a Jewish community life."
This year, one of Pinwheel's regional youth advisors, Anton Bernstein,
who is from Vancouver and who worked as a Vancouver chapter advisor
for several years, moved to Edmonton to help develop the Edmonton
Kadima and USY chapters.
"While there are other youth opportunities in Edmonton, we
believe that USY offers some very unique charactersitics,"
said Berger. "USY works very hard to combine spirited youth
programming with a deep religious and cultural experience. We emphasize
the values, ethics and Jewish traditions of the Conservative movement.
"More importantly, USY and Kadima help young Jews develop a
strong sense of pride for who they are and why being Jewish is so
special. The members become involved in programming both chapter
and regional events and, for many of them, USY and Kadima become
their strongest social network."
According to Berger, the meeting in Edmonton went very well.
"There was an excellent response from the parents and we were
happy with the turnout despite the fact that they had a huge snowstorm
that day," said Berger. "When we left, we believe they
were more committed and confident about the value of their children's
participation in USY and Kadima. We even had preliminary discussion
about holding a Shabbaton in Edmonton in the spring."
While in Alberta, Berger and Chark were also promoting a Kadima
Shabbaton at Camp Solomon Schechter that took place, Dec. 5-7. With
representatives from most of the Pinwheel Region chapters, the 70
kids who participated had the chance to meet new friends, hang out
with old ones and have a fun weekend in a Jewish environment, said
Berger.
At the gathering, he said, the Kadimanicks were joined by 25 members
of the USY regional general and executive boards, who worked with
the younger kids and partook in some leadership training programming
of their own. This part of the weekend was led by Howard Goldberg,
the director of youth services for the New City Jewish Centre in
New York. Goldberg, who has more than 17 years of youth leadership
experience, tied his programs in with the weekend's theme, "Celebrate
the Holidays."
To prepare the older Kadimanicks for their progression into USY,
the Grade 8 kids joined the USY executive on a special Saturday
night excursion to Tacoma, where they played laser tag, then enjoyed
some free samples at one of the few kosher Krispy Creme outlets.
The kids also participated in a social action project that had them
make Chanukah greeting cards and challah covers to be delivered
to those who may not be able to afford to purchase their own.
The Kadima weekend was chaired by four USYers: Helen Bennett of
Seattle, Bram Newman of Richmond, Ann Kelly of Seattle and Becca
Cigan of Portland.
Also on Berger's busy schedule this month is the USY annual convention
taking place in Toronto. Several local USYers will spend a few days
with the Jewish community of Ottawa, Dec. 17, before joining 1,200
other Jewish teens in Toronto, Dec. 21-25, for the convention.
For more information about USY's or Kadima's local, regional or
chapter programming, go online to www.uscj.org/pacnw/usy.
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