J-Serve International Teen Philanthropy Campaign.

This is your moment to make a difference! From your homes, from your bedrooms, from your spaces of social distancing, YOU have the power to change the world by giving to causes you care about and fundraising so that others can do the same. Communities from around the world are participating in the J-Serve International Teen Philanthropy Campaign, culminating in the LARGEST Jewish teen giving experience in the world on Sunday March 29th, and every contribution will help those affected by the spread of COVID-19.

All teens and organizations are welcome to participate! In our world gripped today by the global spread of COVID- 19, we will unite to fulfill the Jewish values of charitable giving (tzedakah), acts of loving kindness (g'milut chasadim), and the responsibility to repair the world (tikkun olam).

What is the Campaign?

Be part of the LARGEST Jewish teen giving experience in the world! Mobilize, fundraise and decide which organization receives the funds. Create a fundraising page and share the information with your friends , family, and extended networks. Attend any number of amazing online sessions during the day on Sunday March 29th, and join us for our evening program J-Serve Prime Time: A Worldwide Celebration of Service and Philanthropy (9 PM ET) where we will hear from amazing speakers and YOU get to decide which organization would you like to support from the funds that have been raised.

Where will your donations go?

A committee of teens worked together to research and select four organizations that are addressing the spread and impact of COVID-19 near and far. The funds raised will be allocated across these four important organizations. The percentage of allocation will be decided by teens in the world's largest Jewish giving experience on Sunday, March 29th at 9 PM ET.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

ABOUT: Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries.
ADDRESSING COVID-19: Doctors Without Borders has already started operations and offered support in Italy, Hong Kong, and Greece. This week, in consultation with France’s health authorities, our teams are setting up activities to help detect and manage COVID-19 cases among the most vulnerable populations in Paris and the surrounding region, such as migrants, the homeless and unaccompanied minors. People in vulnerable communities are particularly at risk during this pandemic. Whether they live in makeshift housing or in overcrowded, makeshift encampments, unsanitary environments like these foster the spread of the virus among people excluded from health care systems, and often in poor health brought on by their living conditions.

JDC

ABOUT: JDC is the leading Jewish humanitarian organization, working in 70 countries to lift lives and strengthen communities. They rescue Jews in danger, provide aid to vulnerable Jews, develop innovative solutions to Israel’s most complex social challenges, cultivate a Jewish future, and lead the Jewish community’s response to crises. For over 100 years, their work has put the timeless Jewish value of mutual responsibility into action, making JDC essential to the survival of millions of people and the advancement of Jewish life across the globe.
ADDRESSING COVID-19: 1) Providing aid to vulnerable Jews, including poor elderly and children, by ensuring they have food, medicine, and home care in communities from the former Soviet Union to Latin America. 2) Helping Israel's most in-need, including the elderly, people with disabilities, youth and families at risk and underserved populations. 3) Sustaining connections to Jewish life by creating digital and online spaces, programming, and resources for Jewish education, culture, and leadership training as well as guidance to build community resilience in the face of the crisis. 4) Providing humanitarian aid in Ethiopia by providing training for local institutions on proper hygiene, establishing handwashing and hand sanitizing stations in areas with limited access, and equipping two central health facilities in Addis Ababa with the needed equipment.

Jewish Federations of North America

ABOUT: The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) convenes and serves 146 Federations and over 300 independent communities across North America, impacting millions of lives—Jewish lives and all people—around the world. In each North American community Jewish Federations help people and community flourish, working through a network of local and overseas partners to ensure that people are safe, thrive in their daily lives, and engage with each other and with Jewish tradition.
ADDRESSING COVID-19: During this crisis, Jewish Federations are the central Jewish address for information, financial support, and people support. In the coming weeks, JFNA will help Jewish Federations access federal dollars just appropriated for non-profit organizations. We will help Jewish Federations access small business loans for their agencies. This will ensure food stability, help organizations to stay open and retain jobs, support Jewish Federations to manage one-to-one contact with all those in Jewish community, and helping us to be together and in community even while we are physically distant.

Mazon

ABOUT: Inspired by Jewish values and ideals, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a national advocacy organization working to end hunger for people of all faiths and backgrounds in the United States and Israel.
ADDRESSING COVID-19: Nearly 40 million Americans struggle with hunger already, and the current and unprecedented public health crisis caused by COVID-19 has now left millions more without work and anxious about how to feed their families. MAZON is on the front lines working to protect and improve the large-scale, national programs that serve as a lifeline for those struggling with hunger – both those already struggling, and those newly vulnerable. And we’re making sure that our leaders pay attention to people whose struggles with hunger are too often overlooked and who might be even more vulnerable in the context of this pandemic, including currently-serving military families, veterans, students, seniors, rural and Tribal communities, and single mothers.

More About Jewish Teen Philanthropy

Jewish teen philanthropy is a powerful way for teens to take meaningful action to change the world by giving. As our world today needs support, teen philanthropy provides a way to take action and affect change on the issues that we care about. Guided by Jewish values, teens from across the world will unite in raising critical funds to support communities locally and globally and make informed and strategic decisions about the issues that affect all of us. Jewish teen philanthropy is not only making a difference to the causes they fund, teens also learn essential leadership skills, explore values that drive them to be active participants in society, and make commitments to future action in their communities and beyond.

For more about Jewish teen philanthropy, check out the Jewish Teen Funders Network for resources, tools curriculum, professional development opportunities, information about our network, and more.

J-Serve is a collaborative effort run by BBYO in partnership with Jewish Teen Funders Network, Good Deeds Day, Repair The World, and YSA's Global Youth Service Day. The initiative is generously underwritten by The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, among others.

J-Serve International Teen Philanthropy Campaign

By J-Serve

J-Serve International Teen Philanthropy Campaign

A collaboration with the Jewish Teen Funders Network