Led by the Reuben Klamer “Game of Life” Youth Leadership Council, the Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School recently held its first Achieving Chesed and Excellence (A.C.E.) Community Service Program, in response to President Obama’s National Day of Community Service. Many of the 60 participating middle school students fanned out in four different directions to volunteer their services throughout the San Diego Jewish community.
One group partook in activities with residents at the Seacrest Hebrew Home in Carlsbad. Two other groups headed to the JCC campus to work in very different venues: the quiet environs of the Astor Judaci Library, where they cataloged, shelved and organized valuable archives and information; and the bustling Nierman Preschool, where the volunteers interacted with the preschoolers and assisted the staff and parents in the running of the Tu B’Shevat program. At Nierman the volunteers ran the stations, read books to the children, helped the preschoolers in arts and crafts projects, performed improv theater, taught poetry, and helped at the compost station – holding worms and all!
The fourth group gave their services at the Abraham Hurlich Memorial Library, where they fixed shelving, organized new books, and rebound older books. They also spruced up the beit medrash.
Along with the student volunteers, the credit for this successful chesed program belongs to the Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School administration and staff – and specifically to the council coordinator, Malka Weiser, a school morah.