As you may remember, I was selected last year to be a member of the East Bay Jewish Teen Foundation (EBJTF). This year, I was selected to be a member of the EBJTF’s Leadership Council, a group of eight second-year members who help guide the board through the fundraising process. I would like to ask for your help in supporting our cause.

The EBJTF is a group of twenty-three Jewish teenagers who learn about philanthropy and grant-making from a Jewish perspective. We spend seven Sundays during the year learning how to research reputable non-profit organizations, write Requests for Proposals, efficiently make group decisions by using consensus, how to be effective fundraisers, and how a foundation generally works.

One out of every three San Francisco Bay Area youth live in poverty, and approximately 5,700 homeless youth reside in San Francisco. Problems like these are far too rampant in the Bay Area and across the world. In order to help these disadvantaged youth, it is the EBJTF’s mission to fund organizations provide a safe and healthy environment and innovative educational opportunities in order to promote self-empowerment and a stable foundation for disadvantaged youth primarily in the East Bay and in Israel.

With your help, the EBJTF will be able to achieve our mission. Please be assured that although we have not yet decided which organizations we will be donating to, your contribution will go directly to a nonprofit that will utilize the donation in the most effective way possible.

This year, the board has a goal of $45,018 as a whole, and I have set a personal goal of raising $1,700. The Jewish Community Federation has also generously provided a matching grant of $5,000 to donate to our Foundation. With all of the poverty and homelessness that occurs in the East Bay and in Israel, any donation will make a significant difference in the life of a disadvantaged youth. Please consider donating $300, $150, $100, $50, $20, or any amount that you feel comfortable with. Although these are tough economic times, we still feel it is important to help those who are less fortunate. Again, any donation will help.

Thank you so much for your generosity!

“And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”

– Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a