The Application Process

Can my references come separately?
We are happy to take your application in parts. Your recommenders can send their letters separately and if they want, they can also send them as an email.  Go ahead and send your part in when you are ready and we will add the recommendations to the file when they arrive.

How do I know if my child is eligible to participate?
Volunteers must have completed 9th grade and be 15 years old by the start of the summer program.  Our oldest volunteers are rising high school seniors.  Our volunteers come from across the spectrum of Jewish practice, knowledge and background.  No experience with tools, construction or service is expected or required. Come with an open mind, a willingness to try new things and work hard, and to being a part of something very different than what you are used to. 

Can my child attend with a friend?
Yes.  But what makes an AJSS trip successful are positive group dynamics.  Our staff, in cooperation with the volunteers, works hard to develop strong working and living relationships.  When participants come with friends from home or camp, we make sure in advance that everyone understands that becoming part of the larger group is expected. We may for example put friends from home on different committees or split them up on car trips so that everyone has a chance to get to know and work with each member of our community. 

Why am I paying for my kid to work?
In order for us to run safe and meaningful programs, we have to charge our participants tuition. The tuition goes toward the staffing, food, recreational activities, transportation during the summer and the like.  While the participants are not living in luxury during the program, AJSS still has costs.  In fact, the tuition does not fully cover all of the costs of our programming and we rely on the generosity of our alums and others to support our program.

What’s the difference between the three week and the six week option?
The six week program allows for a more immersive experience.  Depending on the type of work we are doing, a participant on the six-week program may see a job completed, or be involved in more phases of a particular job. The three week program is geared towards those who cannot fit a full six week program into their summer schedule.

Both programs offer a rich and rewarding opportunity to serve people in need, live and work with other Jewish teens and develop valuable life skills.

Why don’t you know where you are going yet?
We look for communities that need help and can provide supervision and meaningful work for 16 people over the course of the time we will be there.  Community agencies that have strapped budgets and a host of other issues and cannot always tell us in the fall, what their needs will be in the summer. We also want to be sure that when we commit to going to a community that we have housing and other necessities in place.  While we know that it can be weird to apply for  a program without knowing where it will be, please try to focus on what we will be doing and who we will be helping, and less on where.  In the end, you will go someplace different than where you’ve been before and you will do meaningful and important work. 

When do I find out where I’m going?
We generally know by mid-April where our sites will be. We will let our families know as soon as we are able, and will give detailed information about flights and other logistics.

How do you assign the groups?
We ask for your cooperation in allowing us to build balanced groups.  We want the groups to be as diverse and as well balanced as possible.  That means we want gender balance, geographic diversity, and life experiences.  We take into account if a participant has been to a certain area before and wants to go someplace new, or other factors

The Summer Program

What type of work will the participants do?
We engage in meaningful and needed work throughout the summer.  Our goal is for every trip to have a healthy balance of work. We work with a range of agencies the focus on issues including hunger, poverty, heath, environment, and housing. Click here to get an overview of the range of things we’ve done over our 60 years of serving communities. 

What do the adult supervision and safety precautions look like?
We are proud of our sixty-one years of safety and security.  Our programs are staffed by 4 adults over the age of 21 who come to us highly recommended; many of them are former participants and returning staff.  On the job site, the host agency will provide appropriate supervision as needed.  If hard-hats or goggles are needed, we will provide them.  We recommend that the volunteers bring work gloves and sturdy shoes with a hard sole to wear on job sites. 

What does a typical day look like?
There is no typical day! But there is some basic structure:  We come together for breakfast and then it’s off to work!  The work day is basically from 8:30 – 4:30 but that can vary with the weather and many other factors.  We then have some down time for showers and recharging before dinner and our evening activity.  The day concludes with a group check-in, a preview of the upcoming day, and time to pack lunches for the following day.

Where does the group live?
We live simply.  We live in donated space like a synagogue, school or office.  We have space for the boys and the girls, bathroom and cooking facilities, and a room to hang out.  If there are no showers where we live, we make arrangements for the local Y or gym for our group to shower.  We sleep on air mattresses, and participants bring bedding and sleeping bags.

How does the group get around?
Our staff does the driving in passenger minivans.  We check each person’s driving records and they take a driving test prior to the summer.  We break up larger trips into smaller ones and we stay in touch with each other en route. Our 4 staff also rotate driving the 3 vehicles so that each will get some time not driving. 

What do you eat? Who cooks the food?
Meals are an important time for creating community. Our meals are simple, hearty and healthy and we always have snacks and a moderate amount of “junk food” handy for our hungry volunteers.

Breakfast is simple: cereal, yogurt, fruit, etc. We brown-bag our lunch and take it along to the work site. The group plans the dinner menu and shops for the food at the local grocery store.  We generally hire a local person to help with dinner since we are out at the work site all day but the inspiration and planning comes from the group.  Favorites include comfort foods, local favorites and AJSS Iron Chef night!

Where we live, all meat we eat is kosher and we do not mix milk and meat products. All other products will be kosher if available, vegetarian if not. If we are invited out to dinner, or we eat a meal outside of our home, we will make sure that there are plenty of vegetarian options for those who require. If you have specific questions about dietary issues, be they religious, allergic or just picky eaters, please call us.

What do the weekends look like?
Each weekend will be different. We may spend one weekend in our host community and take in the local sites, or we may travel to another . community to explore some of the country.  We sometimes go camping or to the beach; it depends on what’s in a reasonable drive and worth visiting.  . Our weekends are intended to be learning experiences but also an opportunity for the group to have fun and share some different experiences.

Each group celebrates Shabbat with dinner and programming designed to introduce our participants to new traditions and ways to enjoy the day.  Examples have included walking tours, a camping Shabbat and home-stays. In order to foster a comfortable environment for all participants, AJSS trips will refrain from driving on Shabbat both as a comfort for those who require it, and as a new opportunity for those who do not.

What do the volunteers do during the evenings?
Our goal is to expose our participants to the larger community in every way possible.  We use the local Laundromat to clean our clothes one evening each week and we seek out other educational, cultural and entertainment activities.  We may invite a local expert in for dinner and a program, we may go to the movies or to an outdoor concert.

What types of contact will the participants have with the community?
We like our work to be done in partnership with the people we are serving. We will feed meals to hungry families, hammer alongside a future homeowner to put up a roof, or tutor an at-risk teen for his GED.  We also love to invite people from the community to join us for dinner and to teach us about our summer home.  We reach out to faith-based groups, and share our religious traditions, and we  seek out opportunities to meet and interact with the locals as much as possible. Once word gets out in the community that an AJSS group is in town, we often get invited to the homes of local dignitaries and the like.

How Jewish is this experience?
AJSS focuses on meaningful service to communities in need, an inherently Jewish agenda. Throughout the summer, we will introduce and explore the relationship between Judaism and service. Our goal is to create an atmosphere where participants will be able to learn more about Judaism in action, while appreciating the meaning behind their own beliefs and practices.

How often will I hear from my child?
We make it possible for our participants to fully engage in the program by limiting the use of cell phones.  Not only do the participants appreciate it after a day or two of adjusting, but the parents do as well.  What makes our program successful is that the participants are fully present to build community.

Participants will be able to use their phones during predetermined times during the week. We post photos and blog entries regularly throughout the summer and send a weekly update to parents.  We will provide you with more information about communicating during the summer as we get closer to the program.