J-STAR Turns Miami Teenagers into Active Volunteers

A new Federation-funded program offered through the Jewish Volunteer Center has brought together more than 80 Jewish Miami-Dade teenagers to perform acts of tzedakah throughout the community in support of tikkun olam (repairing the world). The J-STAR program, which stands for Jewish Students Taking an Active Role, allows eighth graders and high school students to engage in a different community service project each month, which amounts to more than 40 volunteer hours per person per year. J-STAR has clubs in both North Dade and South Dade, and a Miami Beach club will begin soon.

In South Dade, the program began as an offshoot of the Young Lion of Judah program, a JVC program that encourages B’nai Mitzvah students to participate in mitzvah projects together. Determined to continue the volunteer work and the friendships they had begun, Young Lion graduates – soon joined by other teenagers – formed J-STAR. J-STAR partners with Women’s Philanthropy of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation to encourage mothers and their children to participate in volunteer work together.

So far, the South Dade volunteers have created a day of fun for children at the Ronald McDonald House and participated in the Jewish Community Services of South Florida’s Milk and Honey food distribution event for homebound seniors. They have also partnered with the University of Miami to help with a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis. Next month, they will be visiting with residents of The Palace Nursing Home in Kendall to play Bingo and light Chanukah candles.

The program is not only about community service. It is also an opportunity for teenagers from different synagogues to get to know each other. J-STAR has held multiple Shabbat dinners for its participants, including one in October hosted by the students of Alexander Muss High School in Israel.

“The J-STAR program has multiple goals,” explained Jamie Rubenstein, mother of participant Samantha and Co-Founder of the club. “We want to help Jewish kids of South Dade get to know each other. We’re all part of the same community. We also want to show our kids what Federation has to offer them. But most importantly, we want to constantly teach them how important it is to give back to the Jewish community.”

In North Dade, J-STAR serves as an extracurricular club at the Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School. Members of the club, which was founded last year, have recently participated in phonathons at Federation to raise money for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation/UJA Campaign and helped prepare kosher meals for those in need during the Jewish Volunteer Center’s Third Annual Everything…but the Turkey pre-Thanksgiving program.

For more information about the J-STAR program, contact Lori Drutz, Jewish Volunteer Center Director, at [email protected] or 786.866.8414.