Unusual Fundraising Pitches, Not from Us!

I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders walking through the doors to school this morning. Like many of you, I have been glued to local and international news lately and to an even more extreme degree over the last 24 hours. I came into work shaking this morning, thinking about war with Iran. If I feel so shaken, it is hard to imagine how shaken my friends and family in Israel must feel at this moment. I have the privilege of moving freely outside a shelter and coming to work at a place of joy, hope, and calm —a place that helps me disconnect from the world as it is and, instead, imagine the world that could be.

In this context, I am sharing fundraising pitches for our eighth-grade students as part of a non-profit unit in the weekly class I teach them, Sherut Kehillati (community service). These students are not fundraising for their own needs or even for the school. Instead, they are fundraising because they understand the power of finances as a lever of change in a world that desperately needs it. I am very proud of the work they have done in preparing their pitches, and it gives me hope for all the vital work they will do in life to care for our community and the world.

Sherut Kehillati, a weekly service learning class in our middle school, was born from a prototype developed during the communal design thinking process we used to build the new division of the school a few years ago. One of the questions that surfaced in this process was, “How might we emphasize and cultivate a sense of responsibility in our middle school students to the communities and world they inhabit?” We employ various strategies to this end across all subject areas and during community gatherings and events. One of those tools is this class. 

Each year, the class focuses on a different question through service learning. The first-year students explore what it takes to keep our school facilities running smoothly, serving through tasks such as cleaning, updating inventory, arranging bulletin boards, setting up furniture for Shabbat events, and more. The following year, they explore the efforts it takes to be a strong and supportive community and why this is important. Some of the services they do include helping out in the preschool, practicing Torah reading skills with elementary students, sending notes to community members who have experienced a simcha or a loss, and thanking people who have supported our school in various ways. 

In their last year, I have the privilege of teaching Sherut Kehillati to eighth grade. Like the essential question of their Humanities curriculum, we focus on how they “choose to participate in society.” Sherut Kehillati, in eighth grade, is divided into three units. We begin with a speaker series, where students hear from individuals making a difference in various local and global issues. Ruth Messinger visits to open the semester, framing the discussion about systemic change versus direct service. Then they hear from speakers from Hebrew Free Loan, Westside Campaign Against Hunger, Climb Hire, New Neighbors Initiative, and many more. In a later unit, the class studies political advocacy as a specific lever of change. We partner with Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger to learn about food insecurity, delve into a timely legislative issue related to food justice, and lobby our representative in Congress on that issue when we visit DC on our end-of-the-year trip. Finally, in their last unit of the year, students choose an organization to research that works on an issue close to their heart. They learn the difference between an organization’s vision, mission, and strategies, how to read a 990, the different ways to assess impact, and the tools to determine whether to support an organization. The organizational research projects this year include:

• Adira Walfish, Covenant House

• Alex Firestone, BronxWorks

• Danielle Chayo, The Animal Welfare Institute

• David Reigel, The International Committee of the Red Cross

• Eitan Shaish, Anti-Defamation League

• Ezra Shaeffer, Center for Employment Opportunities 

• Naomi Moeller, The Humane World for Animals

• Stella Davey, National Alliance to End Homelessness

I invite you to read their fundraising pitches below. As you will see, they invite you to support organizations. By asking you for support, they are also implementing another level of change, fundraising on behalf of issues close to their hearts. I hope their research and passion inspire you and that you consider adding one or more of these organizations to your family’s tzedakah portfolio.

Eighth Grade Fundraising Pitches

Adira Walfish, Covenant House

The issue that I chose to research was youth homelessness because I think that young people deserve to be taken care of. Youth homelessness is a big issue in America. Covenant House gives shelter, food, and resources to young people experiencing homelessness. They raise awareness by doing “sleep-outs,” and they provide food, shelter, and resources to young people in need. Covenant House has provided more than 862,000 nights of safe housing to young people in the past year and served 1.8 million meals to young people in the past year. I think you should support Covenant House because it is New York's largest provider of services to young people experiencing homelessness. There are a few good ways to support Covenant House: you could give money, which they could use to buy more food, shelter, and resources for people in need, you could volunteer to help serve food and help people, or you could do a sleepout to help raise awareness on the issue. If you would like to donate, here’s the link!

Alex Firestone, BronxWorks

This year in Sherut, I chose to focus on the issue of homelessness. I chose this topic because I think it is very important that everybody has basic needs and opportunities. Homelessness affects over half a million people in America and is an issue that needs to be fixed. Because of this, I chose BronxWorks as my non-profit organization. This organization fights poverty and homelessness in NYC and donates thousands of meals, as well as provides many shelters for the homeless. I think that people and our school should support this organization because it helps address a major problem and specifically fights this problem in our community. If people would like to support this organization, they can make a donation or volunteer their time. If you would like to donate, here’s the link!

Danielle Chayo, The Animal Welfare Institute

The issue that I chose to address is animal cruelty, specifically animal cruelty that is caused by humans. I chose to support alleviating this issue because animals have always had a special place in my heart and life, and I strive to improve their lives in any way possible. The organization that I am supporting is the Animal Welfare Institute, or the AWI. The Animal Welfare Institute’s mission is to alleviate animal suffering all around the world, whether it be in “agriculture, in commerce, in our homes and communities, in research, and in the wild” (AWI's website). The AWI takes many different approaches to improving animal welfare all around the world, but they have been especially contributory to passing certain laws that improve animals’ well-being, including the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, the Animal Welfare Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act. In addition, from June 1st, 2023, to July 30th, 2024, the AWI spent $110,967 alone on advertising and $401,349 on professional services for their cause. I believe that people should support and donate to this organization because it is an opportunity for them to be a voice for the voiceless and stop the mistreatment, cruelty, and abuse of innocent animals. Animals do not deserve the abuse and exploitation inflicted by mankind, and the worst part is that they lack power in an ongoing fight that requires indestructible strength and perseverance. If you would like to support the AWI, donating money to their organization greatly helps them directly help animals who are suffering from unfair animal cruelty. If you would like to donate, here’s the link!

David Reigel, The International Committee of the Red Cross

For this project, I knew I wanted to focus on the omnipresent war in Israel. After looking through a bunch of websites, one in particular caught my eye. The war in Israel is full of controversy from both sides, and I found one opinion that I couldn’t disagree with. The International Committee of the Red Cross abstains from making partisan views to save and better the lives of victims. Their neutral mindset forms a compelling movement to stop pain and trauma from spreading through the world. They battle pain both on the field and by connecting displaced families. I think people should support the ICRC because their money will go entirely to saving lives rather than supporting political banter. If you would like to donate, here’s the link!

Eitan Shaish, Anti-Defamation League

I chose the issue of anti-Semitism in the world and specifically, in America. Especially since October 7th, the amount of antisemitic behavior in this country has been on the rise, and I think that is not good. The organization that I chose, ADL, reflects these ideas and fights against antisemitism. The ADL is an organization whose goal is to stop the defamation of Jews in America. They do this by attending and organizing protests, educating, and supporting Jewish communities. During COVID, ADL held a protest that gained 25,000 virtual attendees. ADL also went to help with the hostage situation at a synagogue in Texas in 2022. I think that people should support this organization. America is a place where people came to escape antisemitism and racial injustice. I think that ADL deserves support for the work that they are doing to protect Jews. People can support ADL by donating money or attending protests that they host. If you would like to donate, here’s the link!

Ezra Shaeffer, Center for Employment Opportunities 

The organization that I chose is CEO (Center for Employment Opportunities). CEO provides immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services exclusively to people recently released from incarceration. They do this by working directly with formerly incarcerated people and by trying to make changes in the government at the same time. I specifically care about this issue for two reasons, one personal reason is that my cousin is the Chief Executive Officer of Chief CEO. The second is that I think formerly incarcerated people deserve equal rights, and they need people to fight for their rights. CEO helps 8,000 prisoners get jobs every year while working across the U.S. in 26 cities. You should support this organization because it helps formerly incarcerated people get into stable economic situations, which keeps them from becoming homeless. It is headquartered here in New York, and I can tell you my cousin is trustworthy! If you want to donate, here’s the link!

Naomi Moeller, The Humane World for Animals

The Humane World for Animals is a nonprofit organization with a goal of finding the root cause of animal cruelty worldwide and ending it. Humane World for Animals started in 1954 and is led by Kitty Block. Humane World for Animals uses both direct service and systemic change because they have some people just going straight out and saving animals (direct service), but they are also trying to find the root cause and end it (systemic change). HWFA does many acts to try and permanently stop animal cruelty such as: They try stopping factory farms which is them stopping businesses that harm animals, They rescue animals directly, they train families who take these animals and prepare them for how it will be so they don't get overwhelmed, they do grants which is them getting into law and government to change how this is, and they partner with government and law enforcement to change the law. Another problem HWFA works on ending is the dog and cat meat trade, and they are currently making significant progress in their campaign to end the dog meat trade in five Asian countries: South Korea, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, and India. I chose this organization and think other people should do what they can to support it because it's a really devastating reality for animals, and without the support, this could continue forever. We need to speak up for them since they can't speak for themselves. If you want to do what you can to support HWFA, you can volunteer for certain programs, you can also save animals, you could donate money, or just advocate for this organization and teach others why they should help this issue. Which makes it more well-known and gets animals the support and safety they need. If you would like to donate, here’s the link!

Stella Davey, National Alliance to End Homelessness

The organization I have chosen is the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a non-Jewish and non-profit organization. It was founded in 1983. Originally, it was the National Citizens Committee for Food and Shelter, but after deciding they needed a better approach to prevent homelessness, they created the National Alliance to End Homelessness. This organization is focused on researching the main causes of homelessness and doing its best to end it with the data they have found. The National Alliance to End Homelessness does capacity building, which means teaching communities how to adapt and thrive in a world that is changing so quickly. They don’t do direct service themselves, but they collaborate with other direct service providers. I think people should support the National Alliance to End Homelessness because homelessness has been a problem in the U.S. since the colonial period, the 1600s! It’s been a problem because of poverty and the lack of affordable housing. It’s inhumane that people, humans just like us, have to survive living on the streets or moving from shelter to shelter. Everyone should have a secure home where they know they’re safe and can survive. If you donate to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, they’ll make sure of that. If you would like to donate, here’s the link!