B'nai Mitzvah Projects
B’nai Mitzvah Project Suggestions
Your b’nai mitzvah project should be something you find meaningful and something you can connect with! This mitzvah project should be student driven and parent supported. Your project could be at one or more of the projects listed below, or you may continue at a project you are already involved with. If there is something else that speaks to you, please discuss the project with one of the clergy. Each student will give a short presentation that describes the project and lessons learned while doing it. While you are engaged in the project, document your experience in writing or visual form for the presentation, for example, keep a journal, take photographs, make a video, conduct an interview, or collect information from the organization to share with your class.
Feed the Hungry—Peah & Leket
Jewish Family and Children’s Services
Participate in holiday outreach by delivering holiday gift packages to seniors and the disabled.
Contact Betty Hirschfeld at 419-366.
Jewish Family and Children’s Services
Shop, bag, deliver food and visit seniors who are homebound for JFCS’s grocery delivery program.
Contact Lorraine Harris at 419-3635 or LorraineH@jfcs.org
Meals for the Homeless Program (on hold during Covid)
Cook part of a meal at home to be delivered to a shelter in Marin
Contact Rachel Mercer at 479-8554, rachel.mercer@alc.com or Debra Thal at 389-1125, debrat26@gmail.com
Mazon’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah Tzedakah Project
Educate, inspire and motivate others to take action to end the injustice of hunger. Set an example for other young people by participating in Mazon’s Mitzvah Project options.
Contact Reena Rexrode, rrexrode@mazon.org.
Marin Organics Glean Team (May not be currently happening due to Covid restrictions)
Harvest and deliver healthy, organic food. Over 130,000 pounds of local certified organic products have been gleaned and delivered to participating schools, camps, and underserved communities throughout Marin. Each week the program enables 10,000 children to eat organic foods grown in Marin soil. Join the Glean Team in this rewarding work!
Contact Program Manager Kerry McGrath, kerry@marinorganic.org
Marin/SF Community Food Bank
Organize Food for distribution, volunteer in their warehouse or pop up pantry or deliver food to those in need
Phone: 415-883-1302
ExtraFood.org
Volunteer to feed the hungry and reduce food waste. Extrafood.org is a nonprofit that is helping end hunger and reduce food waste in Marin County. Volunteers pick up extra prepared food from Marin organizations—companies with extra catering, bakeries, restaurants, conferences, and congregations and deliver it immediately to programs in Marin that are feeding the hungry. Join us! You can do pickups/deliveries when and where it’s convenient for you. You can also help with pick ups at the Farmer’s Market. Contact 415-482-9579, extrafood.org.@gmail.com
St. Vincent De Paul Dining Room
Help feed the hungry by signing up to make bag lunches at home to be delivered to them. They are open 365 days a week.
CERES Community Project
This agency helps to feel those who are critically ill in our community. Youth volunteers 8th grade and up are invited to help. Make cards to be included in their meals or you can sign up to deliver meals with your family.
Marin Community Fridge
Community fridges are a mutual aid space where people take responsibility in caring for one another by redistributing resources. Fridges are set up and run by the people, for the people, and they serve as a solution for both food insecurity, and food waste. Free food for all. We will be partnering with Venetia Valley School to provide a fridge for the community.
www.marincommunityfridges.info
Help A Child Learn—Talmud Torah
Special Olympics
Special Olympics provide year-round sports training and competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Volunteers enable Special Olympics to offer sports training and competition to over 16,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities in 11 different sports. Special Olympics could not possibly exist without the time, energy, dedication, and commitment of the more than 14,000 Special Olympics Northern California volunteers. The Special Olympics athletes are why our program exists; the volunteers are how we exist.
Contact info@sonc.org
Honor Our Elders—Kibud Zekaynim
Adopt a Senior:
Visit and share stories with elderly members of the Rodef Sholom community.
Contact Moji Javid, 479-3441, moji@rodefsholom.org
Jewish Family & Children’s Services
Participate in the Friendly Visitor Program Or Shabbat Services at the Redwoods the Second Friday of the month. Bring a challah, enjoy services, and visit with Jewish elders.
Contact Betty Hirschfeld, 419-3661, bettyh@jfcs.org
Caring for Animals—Tsa’ar Ba’alei Chayyim
Canine Companions for Independence
Service dogs that help disabled children and adults. Students will learn to care for the animals and understand more about the process that goes into training seeing eye dogs. Help fundraise and raise awareness for this organization.
Contact 1-866-CCI-DOGS (224-3647)
Save A Bunny
Volunteer experience may include rabbit-care and health learning, rabbit grooming and cleaning, or fostering a rabbit. Beyond the obvious enjoyment you get from spending time with lovable creatures (humans included), you also gain satisfaction in realizing the direct impact you make on a rabbits life. Volunteers of all ages are welcomed, but youths under 13 years old need to be accompanied by an adult. Contact: 415-388-2790.
Bay Area Wildcare
Students ages 12 through 14 work as support to hospital staff and volunteers to help wildlife and the environment through helping the wildlife rehabilitation team. They provide much needed basic services such as laundry and dishes, services needed to operate a successful wildlife hospital. WildCare’s Young Adult Community Service and Volunteer Program creates a unique bond between adults and young teens. Students will form relationships and learn about wildlife rehabilitation.
Contact 415-453-1000 x21, volunteer@wildcarebayarea.org
Raise Up the Fallen—Somech Noflim
In The Bin
Rodef Sholom collects different items each month to help serve communities in need. Contact: Moji Javid, 479-3441, moji@rodefsholom.org
BLOOM (formerly Image for Success)
Collect men’s and women’s business clothes to help someone who needs a job dress properly for their interview.
Contact Skipper Cummings, 415-482-6077, skipper@imageforsuccess.org
Project Night Night
Collect blankets, books and stuffed animals. Assemble tote bags for homeless children. Contact Jessica Silverman Bryan, Jessica@projectnightnight.org
In Spirit (primarily fundraising)
A nonprofit public charity founded in Marin County in 1987 by Aneice Taylor, who became a quadriplegic in 1982 when her house was destroyed by a mudslide. The organization focuses on the needs of quadriplegics and is successfully helping prevent the institutionalization of persons in Marin County with spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, ALS, polio, muscular dystrophy, and other neurological disorders. Contact 415-488-0477.
Beyond Differences
Beyond Differences empowers students to end social isolation in middle school through online and campus programs. They are a student-led organization. They believe that change can only be true and lasting if the agents of that change are youth themselves. Their innovative national programs have inspired a cultural and behavioral shift at middle schools and high schools across the country. Join their movement to end social isolation by bringing one or all of their programs to your school. Contact 415-256-9095.
Marin Youth Court
The YMCA Marin County Youth Court is an alternative to the traditional juvenile justice system. Based on the principals of restorative justice, Youth Court empowers teens to take an active role in addressing and supporting their peers when they have made a poor choice. Restorative practices focus on learning from mistakes rather than being punished. The goal is to repair the harm done and the relationships impacted, so the youth may return to the community as a more reflective and wiser person. Contact Don Carney, Director, 415-459-9622, dcarney@ymcasf.org
www.marincourt.org - Youth Court
Project Awareness and Special Sports
PAASS strives to help teach individuals with developmental delays or learning differences the athletic skills necessary to play sports. They utilize high school and middle school "buddies" that work one on one with players teaching them the mechanics of sports. More than this however, buddies socially engage players and develop long lasting bonds and relationships. Coaches oversee players and buddies, and help coordinate games. Since its inception, PAASS has worked to connect players, buddies, coaches, and parents together and build a community of support, awareness, and acceptance. PAASS is looking to expand current programs to include additional sport clinics and recreational programs. Contact Tyler Barbee, Founder, Executive Director, tybarbee97@gmail.com
www.projectawarenessandspecialsports.org
Pitch In For Baseball & Softball® (PIFBS)
PIFBS provides new and gently used baseball and softball equipment to children in the United States and around the world who want to play ball but lack the equipment to do so. Over the past 17 years, they have given out more than $16 million worth of equipment to help more than 1 Million children play ball in every state in the U.S. and more than 110 countries worldwide. Since their inception in 2005, they are proud to have partnered with hundreds of children who chose them for their B’nai Mitzvah Service Projects. Contact Chris Albright, Director of Individual Giving, c.albright@pifbs.org,267-263-4069.
Camp Kesem
Kesem is a nationwide community, driven by passionate college student leaders, that supports children through and beyond their parent's cancer. Kesem's flagship program, Camp Kesem, operates free summer camps for children who have been impacted by a parent's cancer. Founded at Stanford University in 2000, Camp Kesem has since expanded to 116 chapters in 42 states across the country. Support a fundraiser, become a fundraiser, or complete a wishlist. Contact berkeley.operations@campkesem.org.
Save a Child’s Heart
Save a Child's Heart (SACH) is an Israeli based non-profit international humanitarian organization that provides cardiac surgery to children from developing countries. SACH believes that every child deserves the best medical treatment available, regardless of nationality, religion, color, gender or financial situation. We are excited to share our updated B'nai Mitzvah program that can change the lives of rising B'nai Mitzvah, and save the lives of children from across the world.
Because SACH is located in Israel, we realize it's not so easy to do a "hands on" Mitzvah project. The Young Leadership Directors at SACH have developed a super easy platform where students can create a meaningful, individualized type fundraising initiative. Baking, baseball and jewelry making are just a few examples that can bring your family and friends together for a meaningful and fun experience.
Contact Nancy Pardo with any questions and/or if you need help brainstorming ideas that would be most meaningful to you: 310-466-1784, pardo@saveachildsheartus.org
Environmental Issues—Ahavat Vereishit
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
Participate in local volunteer projects and support for the National Parks Conservancy. 415-561-3044
Marin County Parks and Open Space
Assist rangers with park maintenance work such as habitat restoration, weeding, and trash pick-up. Volunteer at events such as coastal cleanup days and learn more about how to care for our natural environment. Contact Park Ranger Kirk Schroeder, 415-763-2977, kschroeder@marincounty.org
Conservation Corps North Bay
Join America’s Great Outdoors movement and volunteer for environmental community projects at Conservation Corps North Bay’s Summer Service Days. Contact 415-454-4554.
www.conservationcorpsnorthbay.org
Friends of China Camp
