Gifts totaling $28.8 million from two long-time funders lead effort for BBYO to expand its capacity and double its growth rate over the next five years
I am a 17-year-old Jewish teen. I am just 5 feet tall, but I know that my voice far exceeds my stature. That’s not something I always believed. My world was flipped upside down when my family moved from Australia to Denver in middle school; I had few Jewish friends (or friends at all), and was unaware of any opportunities within my reach. I didn’t know about the potential BBYO had to change my life, nor the changes I could make in others’ lives as a BBYO member. I didn’t know the impact that a 5ft tall Jewish teen could make in the world.
There’s a difference between hearing someone’s story and having a brief desire to make an impact, and waking up the next day and putting in the effort to make that impact. This was only one of the realizations I gained this past July when I chose to spend 10 days before my senior year of high school in Washington, D.C., as part of a BBYO community service program focused on homelessness.
I recently returned from my first trip on the March of the Living. It is something I’d thought about doing for some time, but wasn’t sure such a deep immersion in the Holocaust was right for me. However when presented with the opportunity to join the BBYO North America delegation comprised of 120 Jewish teens and 20 adults, I elected to participate. It was a great decision.
Michigan BBYO will honor former adviser Andy Gutman. Andy Gutman was the quiet adult adviser in the corner for a generation of teen boys active in two AZA chapters, yet he left an indelible mark.