What We Do
Upcoming Summer
Jewish Programming
Recreation, Education and Culture

An AJSS summer is first and foremost about work. Our volunteers provide needed work to the host agency and community we are serving. In the past 57 years we have served people of all races and ethnic backgrounds, in rural and urban settings, ranging from Native American reservations to migrant worker communities, to areas devastated by natural disasters.

• Building 4 houses in the Little Rock area for Hurricane Katrina evacuees who are now making their homes in the Little Rock area, thanks to support from the Habitat for Humanity of Pulaski County, AR.

• Repairing and renovating four houses with the Appalachia Service Project of Johnson City, TN which involved foundation work, roof repair, ditch digging and painting for elderly residents in the community.

• Completing “punch lists” for 10 houses in the Grand Rapids, MI area for the Habitat for Humanity of Kent County which included building, siding and roofing, installing blinds and building porches for first time home owners.

• Cleaning and rehabilitating several homes in the Abbeville, LA community by after the devastation caused by Hurricane Rita under the auspices of the Southern Mutual Help Association.

One of the benefits of the six week length of our program is that it enables our volunteers and AJSS to establish connections with members of the local community, including the families that benefit from our work. Our participants frequently mention this as one of the most meaningful aspects of the summer program:

“The Little Rock community, especially the Habitat group and the Jewish community welcomed us with open arms.We were invited to several houses to go swimming or just have a party – one time we didn’t even know the family inviting us over! It was cool to meet the people and experience Southern hospitality – and I even made a few friends in the south.”
“We really had a chance to connect to many people in the community through the work we did.”

AJSS brings together people who are interested in working and who are willing to commit to the success of the group. Our volunteers share in the responsibility for the outcome of their AJSS experience, from assisting in food preparation to organizing Shabbat services, and planning education, culture and recreation programs.

In 2008 we plan to offer 3 programs including one that will accommodate those volunteers who adhere to Jewish dietary restrictions and who refrain from driving or spending money on Shabbat. Our meals are simple, hearty and healthy with a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and plenty of snack food. We prepare our own breakfasts and lunches, bringing lunch to the work site and generally hire a local cook to assist with dinner preparation. All of the volunteers are involved in different aspects of meals (set up, clean up, prep, etc.) throughout the summer.

In the fall and winter, we seek out local organizations around the country that could benefit from sixteen enthusiastic but unskilled workers for six weeks. This process includes making sure that there is real and needed hands-on construction projects within in their communities, and that they can provide work site supervision for our volunteers. We also look for housing and for educational, cultural and recreational opportunities for us to take advantage of throughout our stay in the community.

In most cases, we live in space donated by a local church or community group. In general, we have large sleeping rooms (men/women) and sleeping rooms for our project directors. The counselors sleep with the participants. We will have at least one large common room for meals, meetings, and hanging out, kitchen/cooking facilities and bathrooms. Some of the time shower facilities are located where we are living; if not, we make arrangements with a local Y or school to shower after work on the way home for dinner.
[back to top]

A central piece of the summer takes us back to the early roots of AJSS. This is a program designed to put Jewish values into action and throughout the summer we will step back from what we are doing and talk about the experiences we are having. This may be in the course of a Shabbat service after a day’s work. A trip to a civil rights museum might prompt a discussion about the involvement of the local Jewish community in the early civil rights movement. An invitation to church may give the group the chance to talk about what it’s like to be strangers in a strange land. Regardless of when and where these discussions occur, we always want to remember that we are a group of Jewish kids who are spending our summer helping to repair the world and what that means to us and to the larger community.

On occasion we find ourselves living and working near a Jewish community. It’s always a treat for the locals to welcome an AJSS group and for many of the AJSS participants who come from large Jewish communities it’s also a glimpse into small(er) town Jewish life.
[back to top]

An AJSS summer is not all work. The six weeks are full of activity. Evenings may be spent inviting local community leaders to dinner for a discussion about poverty and housing in the area or by playing softball with a local church youth group. Invitations to dinner and other local events along with the mundane but important task of doing the laundry round out the week. On the weekends we generally hit the road. Either for overnight or day trips, AJSS is busy. Depending on where we are, we will take full advantage of what the area has to offer in terms of nature, history, culture and fun. Recent activities have included camping, minor league baseball games, museums, bowling, and a foot-stomping bluegrass concert.
[back to top]