This week let’s familiarize ourselves with another outstanding chesed organization in our community, iShine Teaneck.
How and when did the organization get started?
We started 10 years ago due to a need in the Teaneck/Bergen County community.
Please describe in detail the services your organization provides: who it services, how often, etc. If you provide many services, please list them.
We are an after school program for any children 4 years old through eighth grade. The children who come are dealing with illness or loss in their lives. They are all b”H healthy, but they either have a parent or sibling with a serious illness or the loss of a parent or sibling.
We provide transportation both ways to the program, do homework, have snacks, special activities and dinner. Each child is paired with an amazing high school senior who is his/her 1:1 buddy for the year. The kids develop a special relationship with their high school seniors.
Who is eligible for your programs? Are your services anonymous?
We do try our best to maintain confidentiality and all of our volunteers are trained appropriately. However, because we have drivers and high school volunteers and we are a large program, we cannot be fully anonymous.
Please share an anecdote that highlights the work you do.
Because we have, baruch Hashem, been around for 10 years, we now have high school seniors who volunteer for us who used to come to the program when they were in elementary school. In the fall, we had a new family start coming to the program. Their mother had recently undergone a mastectomy and was having treatment for breast cancer. The girls were visibly nervous to start their first iShine. When they walked in, we paired one of them up with a high school girl who was available. Only after a minute, we realized that the high school volunteer came to iShine many years ago when her mom had the same exact surgery and treatment! When I told the girls that their counselor came to iShine just like them, they immediately felt at ease and had an amazing evening.
What aspect of your work would you like the community to know about that is perhaps not obvious or misconceptions that you would like to correct.
We are an all volunteer-run organization. All of the money we raise goes directly to our program.
What volunteer opportunities, if any, can community members sign up for? Please include age of the volunteers, frequency of commitment and expected task.
We have opportunities for women from the community to become involved in a few different ways. We are always looking for drivers and have other opportunities to be involved. We also are looking for amazing high school seniors for the 2023-24 school year.
