I’m really excited for this experience, it’s something that you don’t really get to do everyday, and kids this age don’t really do this stuff. Not only do I get to participate in this amazing experience, but I get to go through it with some of my best friends. – Ethan Gertzman (11th Grade, Hunterdon Central Regional High, Ringoes, NJ)
I’ve been on AWB before, and it’s really just a great experience to go and help people who can’t help themselves that much. It’s really a great feeling to get do these things. Because of that, that’s why I keep coming. – Aodhan Lyons (11th Grade, Tucson High Magnet School, Tucson, AZ)
I’m really excited to better the community. Being in another community, not my own and helping to better people’s lives, that’s not something I usually get to do. – Matthew Kreitman (11th Grade, Fiorello H. Laguardia H.S., New York, NY)
I feel really good to give back to a community that I am not a part of, because it is rewarding to give without taking back. It is great to be able to give back with friends who feel the same way I do. It is a great feeling to participate in tikun olam hands on and have fun! – Kareem Rabbat (10th grade, Moravian Academy, Bethlehem, PA)
You help a person (pebble); you drop that pebble into a lake and the pebble spreads. – Salomon Levy (10th grade, North Miami Beach, FL)
AWB allows me to explore a new perspective of the community of Los Angeles, while having fun and changing the world for the better. – Leah Klempner (9th grade, Great Neck, NY)
I’m having a lot of fun already because I have always been scared of the problems going on in the world but this has helped me help others with my friends and not be scared. – Skye Maisel (9th grade, New City, NY)
I came to AWB because I wanted to help my community without and I didn’t want to spend my winter break WASTING MY TIME, I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING MEANINGFUL. – Noah Kleiman (10th grade, Aventura, FL)
It is great to be working as a team with people I have just barely met. We are repairing the world while having fun. Everyone is enthusiastic and has a great attitude towards what we are doing. Not only are we repairing the world but we are helping out my home town as well. – Yosef Reich (11th Grade, OFL, Los Angeles, CA)
I wanted to go on AWB to help me discover more issues in the world that I didn’t know were there. And I wanted to help out, which you don’t do everyday because people are caught up in their own daily lives and can be selfish. This trip allows me to be selfless. – Ben-Ami Halpern (9th grade, Irvine, CA)
I really enjoyed the fact that I was helping kids experience a fun and beautiful summer camp experience that they deserve. It was all small stuff but I could tell what a huge difference it was going to make for so many kids. – Marissa Heffler (11th Grade, Anderson High School, Austin, TX)
Going in, I didn’t think that we would really make an impact on these peoples’ lives or that working at Midnight Mission and PATH would impact me. I was wrong. So many people said thank you and were unbelievably nice to us teens. I have a new found appreciation for everything I have. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with the people at these places and I had (and hopefully the group as well) had a great bonding experience. – Brett Kleiman (11th Grade, Robert M Beren Academy, Houston, TX)
AWB is inspiring to me because it allows me to jump outside my comfort zone and help those in need. I feel that, as a Jew, it is my responsibility to give back to people who need me. – Rachel Powell (9th grade, Springfield, NJ)
I’m on AWB to make a change in a person’s life, make a difference in the community, and inspire others to do the same. – Emily Hecht (9th grade, Westfield HS, Westfield, NJ)