This past week was an exciting one at Yavneh Academy, as they announced the formation of their Yavneh Academy Chesed Team, open to middle school students. Students who join the team will participate in monthly creative and fun chesed events with members of the team. Dr. Aliza Frohlich, middle school director of guidance explains how the idea for the team came about. “I read an article about the Baltimore Chesed League and I immediately knew I had to bring this idea to the Bergen County area. It is a league, similar to a sports league, where there are teams, uniforms, meets and stats listed on their website—not of sports games, but of the chesed that the teams have done. What an incredible way to make exciting more exciting and valued! Although my vision is to have a full-fledged league one day, we decided to start small this year with a Yavneh Academy Chesed Team. We want our students to know that in their free time they can have fun helping others and that it’s ‘cool to be kind.’”

Yavneh Academy has always made involvement in chesed a priority for its students. Yavneh decided to launch the Chesed Team on Sharsheret Pink Day. After tefilla, the students were shown a special video which explained the goals of the Chesed Team. They were then addressed by Mike Dube, of Sharing Seats, who inspired them about the importance of making chesed part of their daily lives. As Dube said, “Chesed is everlasting. Its impact is huge.” The middle school students then participated in a Hoopathon where students shot baskets and hula hooped. The middle schoolers made 348 shots and hula hooped for a total of 474 minutes all for Sharsheret. They also raised over $1300 from Hoopathon sponsorships. Throughout the day, students proudly walked through the halls, which were decorated in pink, in their Yavneh Sharsheret shirts. The proceeds of the shirt sale also went to Sharsheret.

Yavneh hopes that this day gave the students a taste of what the Yavneh Academy Chesed Team will be all about and how enriching involvement in chesed can be. As Anne Frank said, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” The Yavneh Academy Chesed Team will improve the world one chesed at a time and עולם חסד יבנה, build a world of chesed.