Teens volunteer

By Courtney Llewellyn, Reminder Assistant Editor

Dedication and hard work are no strangers to two Longmeadow teens. For their leadership skills and volunteer work in their communities, both received awards from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation last month.

Rebecca Engell, a senior at Longmeadow High School and Noe Pollack, a junior at the Hebrew High School of New England, were honored at a May 7 gala banquet in Springfield. Both are members of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation's B'nai Tzedek program, which helps to empower Jewish teens to change the world through philanthropy, tikkun olam (repair of the world) and tzedekah (charitable giving). Engell and Pollack served in both leadership roles and as volunteers in many different capacities.

"It's really important to let people know how easy it is to make a difference," Engell said. "A smile can change someone's day. Turn off a light or ride a bike to help the environment. It's really easy to do good things."

Engell raised funds with the Hazon ride, a rigorous four-day bicycle ride from the Berkshires to New York City that allowed teens to raise over $12,000 to help the environment. She is also the vice president of Temple Beth El's teen program and the president of Longmeadow High's environmental club. Come fall, Engell will be attending Mt. Holyoke College.

"Becca has an impressive portfolio of leadership activities," said Valerie Gintis, director of B'nai Tzedek. For example, at a recent conference in Denver, Engell went from room to room at her hotel, gathering up the unused soap, shampoo and other toiletries with the intent to donate them to those in need. "Everything she does involves charity," added Gintis.

Noe Pollack was nominated for the award by staff at Jewish Geriatric Services, where she's been volunteering for three years. "[Her] volunteer work is extensive," said Gintis. Pollack served as a grant reader for the Hazon bike ride. At Jewish Geriatric Services she led Shabbat services and connected with residents. In addition to this, Pollack is a published journalist with a recent story printed in a Springfield newspaper. She'll be studying in Israel next year.

"Noe always has a new volunteer initiative, whether it's helping the homeless or those in poverty or the elderly in the Springfield area," Gintis said.

Pollack said that an easy way to get involved is to make a list of problems in your community on one side of a paper, and on the other side list things that you enjoy doing. "I created a drama club for a Jewish middle school to help students who needed a creative outlet," she said. The group received a $500 grant through her efforts.

Both Engell and Pollack are members of the B'nai Tzedek Youth Foundation, which spends time in the fall raising funds to help assist Jewish non-profit organizations. This year, 21 different organizations applied for assistance, and Engell and Pollack helped to decide how to allocate the funds.

For their dedication to charity, the award winners received a check for $500, $1,000 toward an educational trip to Israel, and a hand-made kippah (Jewish skullcap) courtesy of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). The AJWS is an international development organization motivated by Judaism's imperative to pursue justice, dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality.

"These teens are wonderful leaders and teen philanthropists and I am proud of their commitment to their Jewish communities," said foundation organizer Harold Grinspoon. The Foundation's mission is to enhance the vibrancy of Jewish life in Western Massachusetts and beyond through education and experiences that impart the knowledge and values of our heritage and the joys of being Jewish.