On Friday, April 13, Sinai Temple’s Atid community hosted its monthly Ted & Hedy Orden and Family Friday Night Live, an innovative Shabbat service, happy hour and dinner, tailored specifically to community members ages 21-39. This month’s FNL was sponsored by and highlighted the work of long-time community partner, Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles.
The mission of Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles (JBBBSLA) is to assist youth in achieving their full potential through innovative, impactful programs, which facilitate lasting mentoring relationships and support positive development. One way they do this is through their well-known, one-to-one mentoring programming. While this was the fourth time that JBBBSLA was featured at FNL, this month’s collaboration was particularly meaningful, as the designated organization speaker was JBBBBSLA mentor and Sinai Temple member, Jonah Platt. Jonah grew up at Sinai, in fact, he made a joke that FNL-goers were actually sitting in his kindergarten classroom! Driven by his love of kids and his passion to make a direct impact in his community, Jonah began mentoring with JBBBSLA several years ago. Fun fact: Jonah actually found out about the work of JBBBSLA through the Atid e-news! Talk about community collaboration in action! Jonah and his “little brother” Jake have been matched for three years. Jonah’s love of the mentorship program became so contagious that his wife, Courtney, also became a mentor. Courtney has been matched with her “little sister” Emma for a little over a year. The Platt family’s love for both Sinai Temple and JBBBSLA was extremely evident at the FNL program.
JBBBSLA is always looking for caring, Jewish volunteers (ages 21-55) like the Platts to mentor Jewish children. There are over 20 kids on a list RIGHT NOW, waiting for mentors. Interested in learning more about the organization and its impactful work? Visit www.jbbbsla.org, call (323)456-1153 or e-mail [email protected].
