Also in the finest traditions of CJHS, we spent the afternoon out in the community, reaching out to those in need. In the spirit of Matanot La'Evyonim, giving gifts to the poor, we did four service projects in the Chicago area. Freshmen listened to the stories of two formerly homeless people of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, wrote letters to their elected leaders to advocate public policy supporting the homeless, learned about the work of the Night Ministry on behalf of homeless youth, and then packaged cookies for distribution to homeless youth that night. Sophomores packaged five-and-a-half tons of food at the Northern Illinois Food Bank for delivery to food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters in the thirteen counties of northern Illinois.

Sophomore Adam Seidenberg reported, "Packaging food for the homeless was a great experience. The Northern Illinois Food Bank receives most of its food from grocery stores. The food that they receive might have a sell date that passed, but instead of throwing it out, the Northern Illinois food banks puts it to a good cause because the food is still good. I was there with all of my friends and, while we were helping out those in need, we had a really good time. We packaged 11,000 pounds of food, and I know I could have stayed for much longer. The fact that we were giving food to people who could not afford it made me want to work harder. I look forward to doing these Tikkun Olam projects next year."

Juniors celebrated Purim with clients of The ARK. Afterwards, they took a tour of the ARK and stocked their food pantry. Seniors did educational activities with students at Webster Middle School in Waukegan and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a homeless shelter, P.A.D.S. of Lake County.

Senior Nicole Wiznitzer reported, "Our experience at Webster Middle School in Waukegan was really incredible. We talked about our positive high school experience and encouraged them to want to continue their education. It was also very meaningful doing a service project with them to help others in their community. We are really looking forward to continuing the CJHS-Webster relationship when they come visit our school in the spring."

The Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) silent auction concluded this past week raising $1,357.05, all of which will be donated along with other YPI funds to Teen Living Programs (www.teenliving.org).  A special thank you to all of the faculty and local businesses who graciously donated items to the auction. Among some of the top items were a novel signed by Robert Kennedy, a house cleaning by Jacob Rabinowitz, and four tickets to a Cubs game. YPI requests that all bids be paid to CJHS (ATTN: YPI) by March 30.
              

Thanks to the generous support of the CJHS community the 5769 Mishloach Manot campaign raised $8121 -- an all-time high! The proceeds from this drive will be divided evenly between Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, in fulfillment of our obligation at Purim to feed the hungry, and Teen Living Programs. Thanks to Rachel Braun, Ellie Honan, Jacob Rabinowitz, Becca Gore, Zach Spellman, Eitan Delrahim, Alex Krule, Jeremy Hipps, Michal Goldberg, and Hadas Goldberg for helping to pack misloach manot and to Kate Kupferberg for managing the entire project. Stay tuned for the Used Book/CD/DVD Sale: coming soon to a Jewish high school near you!