Thirteen Facts about TELEM:
- In its 13 years of programming, TELEM has engaged nearly 9,000 teens.
- On a service trip to New Orleans in 2016, the TELEM crew used an amazing 15 gallons of paint in three days to paint the entire interior of a home.
- Last year, 784 teens participated in TELEM programming in 20 synagogues and 3 day schools, with an estimated 625 individuals receiving service.
- In Hebrew, TELEM means “groove” or “track”.
- It’s also an acronym for tenuah le’i’tzirim mitnadvim, or “Movement of Youth Volunteers.”
- In the 2017-2018 end of year student satisfaction survey, over 90% of teens said that they would recommend TELEM to their friends.
- For the past five years, TELEM has supported partners in participating in Hunger Seders, an initiative of the JCPA to raise awareness of hunger and food insecurity across the US.
- TELEM ran 9 service trips to assist in post-Superstorm Sandy recovery work in Brooklyn and Long Island.
- The Fran Litner TELEM Service Award, in honor of the longtime Education Director of Temple Beth Emunah, Brockton, is awarded to a Jewish teen from the South Area who best exemplifies Fran’s commitment to TELEM and service to the community and includes a scholarship prize.
- There are 6 TELEM tracks of service: connecting generations, environmental sustainability, literacy, poverty – hunger and homelessness, special needs, and advocacy.
- Last year, in partnership with JCRC’s Greater Boston Jewish Coalition for Literacy program, 57 day school students provided tutoring for 139 students in public schools.
- This year, 81 teens and parents participated in TELEM’s MLK Day of Service project.
- TELEM was launched in 2005, and we’re celebrating our Bar/t Mitzvah this year! Help us celebrate.
Please contact Lisa Kessel Freedman for any questions about this event.