Far West USY Teens Take On Hunger
Posted on January 29th, 2010 by Eric
Aaren Alpert is Fed Up With Hunger’s in-house youth outreach pro . When Aaren heard that the United Synagogue Youth, or USY, needed social action programming for their Valley Beth Shalom weekend teen retreat, she got to work. Let me tell you something about Aaren– she’s serious when it comes to youth programming. Not only is she armed with years of personal and professional experience, but her mother is the legendary Merrill Alpert, youth programming maven of Far West United Synagogue Youth. In other words, this sort of stuff is literally in her blood. Teaming up with VBS’ Rabbi Noah Farkas and youth directors Alison Bluestein and Tiffany Kosloy, Aaren put her know how to good use and set up a whole Fed Up With Hunger themed weekend!
On Saturday morning, the USY Fed Up With Hunger extravaganza kicked off with over 100 USY’ers crowded into the Valley Beth Shalom youth lounge for a Fed Up With Hunger Banquet. The Fed Up With Hunger Banquet is a scripted meal conducted a lot like a Passover Seder, but, instead of telling the story of the Israelites flight from Egypt, the banquet explores the character of food insecurity in the world at large and our own communities. The USY’ers were challenged as the more economically fortunate to realize how difficult it is for needy individuals and families to afford fresh, healthful food. We were really impressed with the lively extended conversation the banquet provoked, especially considering the banquet was holding up their lunch!
After taking a break on Saturday for Shabbat and the obligatory DJ’ed dance, the USY’ers got back to it on Sunday morning with a workshop which had them budget for a week’s worth of groceries on a food insecure household’s income. Even with food stamps, soup kitchens and food pantries to rely on, the USY’ers realized that eating healthfully on a strapped food budget is nearly impossible. The numbers are demoralizing: the price differential between a nutritionally poor and healthful diet amounts to several hundred dollars per week for a family of four. The workshop is frustrating by design, as the point is to demonstrate how the food insecure eat poorly as a matter of necessity.
Once the USY’ers were sufficiently fed up with hunger (we can’t resist that pun around here), they rolled up their sleeves and got hands on with their Tikkun Olam. They split up into groups and worked on a bevy of different projects: potato boxes planters for VBS’ community garden were built, lasagnas were made for a local homeless shelter, food was sorted for the VBS food pantry and nearly one hundred pounds of food donations were collected from Ralph’s. Some of the more theatrically inclined USY’ers put together video PSA’s about hunger to post on their Facebook pages and other social media. All in all, were completely impressed by the enthusiastic response we got. The USY’ers learned about hunger, they took action against hunger and they made the fight to end hunger their own.
After the program was over, we asked Adam Braun, one of the USY teen leaders responsible for running the kinnus, how the weekend impacted him. He said that “For me, it was an experience to be treasured and it has inspired me to take future action because I know that, even though I may just be one adolescent teenager, I can make a difference.” That’s right Adam- you can! And together, we can do so much more. Thank you USY for taking a stand against hunger in Los Angeles!
Patt Morrison is a superstar columnist, author, and radio personality. Her show on KPCC 89.3 is a live two-hour public affairs program known for its innovative discussions of local politics and culture, and for its presentation of national and world news as it affects Southern California.
