We survived the drive to Portland!! We finally pulled up to the NCSY office in Portland to daven and eat breakfast after the long overnight drive! We even found a Starbucks close by to energize us for our last GIVE WEST chessed of the summer. We excitedly headed to Camp SEED, where “it’s fun to be Jewish”. Camp SEED is a program open to all Jewish kids in the Portland community, whether they have a background of Jewish education or not! We had the opportunity to join in teaching them Jewish values and having fun with these awesome children! When we arrived, we split the GIVE WESTers into three groups each doing a different activity with the kids. The girls had the biggest smiles on their faces while dancing and playing games with the adorable kids. After dancing our socks off with the children of Camp SEED, we ate a delicious lunch in the park and then headed to the Portland State University housing to settle in and rest a little before our crazy afternoon. The entire GIVE WEST packed into a jet-boat ride to be splashed and spun around in the water!! The girls had a blast getting soaked, speeding down the river, and seeing the beautiful scenery of Portland. We then headed to the JCC of Portland for mincha and a yummy dinner. After dinner, we went to the gym and played a huge game of dodgeball and lineup. We can’t wait to see how tomorrow ropes the excitement that we had today!

Yesterday, we had a meaningful fast day in Sacramento. In the morning, we learned about why we fast on Shiva Asar BiTamuz, we learned in chaburas, and then the advisors role played various scenarios on what it means to act with sinat chinam versus ahavat chinam in our everyday lives. We concluded the fast day with a program on how we can implement ahavat chinam into our schools. The GIVE WESTers that go to the same schools joined together and brainstormed ideas about specific chessed projects and campaigns they can implement in their schools. Then we had a powerful activity that spread the ahavat chinam on our program. Everyone sat in a circle with their heads down. One by one, we chose a girl to come to the middle and posed a question like, “Tap on someone who inspired you this summer.” After this activity, the girls felt uplifted and empowered about themselves and their ability to contribute to those around them! After our break-fast, everyone packed their bags to prepare to head to our next destination: San Francisco.
Today was an amazing day in San Fran! We started off at the Jelly Bely Factory, enjoying all the goodies! Then, we had a blast walking across the Golden Gate Bridge through all the wind! It was so fun!! Next, we headed towards Union Square, where we took a trolley to Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman’s Wharf. We loved the amazing weather in San Francisco and loved seeing all the touristy shops! Then we had a unique experience of going to the Chabad family in Berkley, California for dinner. Rabbi and Rebetzin Leads provided us with a barbeque dinner in their home, and told us about their amazing experience of being a Chabad Rabbi and Rebetzin on a college campus! The girls really enjoyed hearing from them and loved schmoozing with them and their family. After our dinner, we headed out for our overnight drive to Portland! Here we come!!

On Friday, we continued our road trip heading from LA to Sacramento. Although the ride was long, it flew by for the girls as they enjoyed hanging out, learning with advisors, and watching A Walk to Remember and Inside Out! When we arrived in Sacramento, everyone got ready for our last Shabbos on GIVE WEST 2016! We made the most out of this Shabbos by soaking in all the inspiration and fun. We had an incredible tisch on Friday night which introduced the theme of Shabbos of Bein Adam LiMakom, man’s relationship with G-d. We had a blast enjoying all the singing and the Shabbos treats. On Shabbos day we joined the Sacramento congregation for a communal Kiddush. We then learned, ate lunch, played an exciting game of Fee Fi Fo Fum, and then had free time filled with games and learning! We ebbed Shabbos away with beautiful songs while hearing inspiring words from our advisors of their personal views on what it means to have a relationship with G-d. What an awesome Shabbos!

COLOR WAR in the house! What a fantastic day filled with teamwork, unity, and fun! The red, white, and blue teams all worked incredibly hard today to give their all to color war! Whether it was the basketball games, Chidon haTanach, cheering, dancing, and singing, they succeeded in making the day memorable! We have such a talented group here on GIVE WEST, and between last night’s talent show, and color war today, we were so privileged to see their talents shine in such a productive way! This morning we had a unique opportunity to livestream into YOM NCSY in Israel, a day where all the NCSY summer programs in Israel join together! Although we were across the world, it felt good to be a part of it virtually! After we announced the color war winner (GO BLUE!), we had the chance to wear our BEST.SUMMER.EVER shirts to the beach, where we ate dinner, and hung out by the water! What an awesome ending to an incredible day! When the girls came back to AJU, they packed up all their belongings because believe it or not, we are leaving Los Angeles tomorrow morning!! Sacramento, here we come!

Today on GIVE WEST we started off the day with chesed at the LA Food Bank. We unpackaged donated food and sorted it into categories. We sorted 9,360 pounds of food, which is 7,775 meals for the poor! After the LA food bank we headed to the Grove. At the Grove, we enjoyed a delicious lunch, shopped around, and took photos with our guest photographer Jonah Light. After the Grove we then headed to the friendship circle of LA. We met the founders of friendship circle who divided us into 5 different groups to help them prepare for their summer camp. After making bulletin boards, mason jars, and cutting up letters, we headed to an awesome dinner at pizza world. Following dinner, we headed back to AJU and had the epic annual GIVE WEST talent show. We saw sign language, dancers, lip syncers, comedy, actors, and even a pianist. Congrats to Cayla Muschel and Sorah Baila Fink on the big win! We better rest up, off to Habitat for Humanity in the early morning. JUST KIDDING!!! After curfew the advisors broke out COLOR WAR!!! Teams red, white, and blue started preparing for tomorrow’s full day of color war events! Happy Color War!!!!!!!!!

Blog written by: Yael Cinamon

What another amazing day in LA! The GIVE WESTers hopped on the bus this morning with much excitement to go help out at the LA Kitchen! When we arrived at the Kitchen, we were briefed about the purpose of the LA kitchen- to feed the elderly, homeless, and to train men and women in their culinary skills. Then, they set us up in the kitchen to cut and peel cucumbers, mushrooms, lettuce, potatoes, and tangerines! The girls had a blast doing this chessed as they were taught by the chefs as to how they should properly cut fruits and vegetables! For lunch, we ate delicious pizza at PIZZA WORLD! The girls had a fantastic opportunity to visit the Museum of Tolerance where they split up into two groups and were led by the two most amazing tour guides. They educated us on the Holocaust, hate crimes, and terrorism. The goal was to inform, remember, and gain strength and inspiration to stand up against people who are intolerant. After we ate dinner, we made our way to Moonlight Roller Skating Rink where we all skated away and had a blast!!

What a fun-filled day on GIVE WEST! Today we had a special opportunity to fill our day with tons of amazing chessed. We started off by preparing snack kits filled with sandwiches and snacks for women at the Downtown Women’s Center. The girls had a fantastic idea to place a “Keep Smiling” card in each of the bags in order to brighten up their day. Then, half of the girls went to drop the packages off at the facility and were given an informative tour about the services they provide for homeless women. At the same time, the other half of the GIVE WESTers had the opportunity to serve lunch at the Midnight Mission located on Skid Row, as well as getting a tour of the building to see all the services they provide for those who are homeless and those overcoming addiction. Although it was a lot to process, the girls walked away appreciative of all they have in their life and were inspired by what the Midnight Mission provides for the community! All the GIVE WESTers did an AMAZING job and worked really hard. Then, off we were to the Garden of Palms nursing home, where we met such special elderly men and women who brightened up our day! We played many games of bingo and did arts and crafts! We left on a high after learning some dance moves from our friend Hilda at the nursing home! Next, we stopped by the historical La Brea Tarpits of Los Angeles. We drove back to Pico, once again, to eat a delicious dinner at Nageela, and then ventured off to Universal City Walk which was a blast! The girls enjoyed the thrill of running through the colorful fountains! Another amazing day on GIVE WEST=)

Today we had an incredible day here on GIVE WEST! We travelled down to San Diego, hometown of our own advisor, Adina Cohen! Adina served as our tour guide of the day. When we arrived at San Diego, our first stop was the Cliffs at La Jolla, which overlooked the beach and the Glider Port. We enjoyed taking gorgeous pictures, meditating with a breeze on our faces, and watching people hand-gliding in the air! We were posed with a challenge from our advisor, Rina Landsman, to give out ‘Keep Smiling’ cards to random strangers throughout our day. The GIVE WESTERs made a huge Kiddush Hashem as they handed out these cards and made people’s days! Our next stop was Balboa Park, where the girls enjoyed the gardens, carousel, and art studios! At Seaport Village, the girls had a chance to look at gift shops, get their faces painted, and enjoy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream! When we stopped at the Cove for a few minutes, we got to see some seals, and a wedding on the water. On the bus, we played an interactive game of “what’s your name?” led by Leah Jacobson! Our awesome day ended at Adina Cohen’s home. There, we ate dinner in her backyard, heard words of Torah from her brother-in-law Rav Dani Abel (from Shaalvim), had a blast in the pool, and got to see Mexico from her backyard!! What an amazing day:)!!!

Friday morning we departed AJU with excitement, as we made our way to Summer at Etta, a camp for children and young adults with special needs. We wore our finest costumes and shtick, and had a carnival with them. We had booths for “freeze dance,” “fluff and find,” “bowling” and much more! Both the GIVE WESTers and the campers at Etta had a blast singing, dancing and playing all the fun games together! After a delicious lunch from Pizza World we headed to Target for everyone to have the chance to buy necessities and some Shabbos treats! Then we headed back to AJU to prepare for Shabbos. We began Shabbos singing Kabbalas Shabbos together overlooking a beautiful sunset. After singing and dancing together we say down to have our first Shabbos meal, where we heard two beautiful divrei Torah from GIVE WESTers. The Zmirot we sang at dinner and at the fun Tisch afterwards, brought us together and uplifted us all. Shabbos morning began with davening, a parsha shiur from our guest Zisse Hanfling, NCSY Summer Recruiter, and a yummy kiddush. Our theme of this Shabbos was the relationship Bein Adam L’chaveiro – between man and his friends. We kicked off the discussion of this theme with a panel discussion which allowed us to get to know our Staff on a deeper level. We heard about their personal journey’s, role models, and advise about being in high school. The panel sparked great discussions amongst everyone throughout the rest of the day. Our delicious Shabbos lunch was accompanied by two more divrei Torah, fun singing together, and then learning in a session with our advisors about the impacts our words can have on our interpersonal relationships. After the thought provoking sessions, we played a fun GIVE WEST version of headbands. Many GIVE WESTers stayed afterwards for an optional session with Sarah Lederer, Assistant Director, about Ahavat Yisroel – Love for the Jewish National. Throughout free time we enjoyed relaxing with each other and learning together and with our advisors. After mincha we had part two of our program, where we got to know some of our GIVE WESTers better, in a discussion about what brought them to GIVE WEST. After hearing some amazing and inspirational stories, we enjoyed a delicious Shaloshudes. We ebbed Shabbos away together as we sang in a strong and unified voice after a beautiful Shabbos filled with new and deep connections amongst us all. We can’t wait for our day tomorrow in San Diego!!!