News from Kol Ami

on Saturday, 29 November 2014.

Last weekend our family, along with many others from Kol Ami, said goodbye to our very excited teens as they headed to NFTY’s Fall Kallah in Pennsylvania for a fun weekend of programming, workshops, services and reconnecting with friends. This of course was followed by a Sunday return home of very tired, hungry, grumpy kids with lots of dirty laundry in tow. As parents and as a community we can be thankful for two things. First, that Kallah was last weekend and before the recent snowstorms in Buffalo and second that we have so many of our kids involved in the youth group and participating in these events.

In February of next year, a large contingent of Kol Ami youth will be attending the NFTY Convention in Atlanta. This conference will bring over a thousand Reform youth together from all over North America for a five day celebration. It will help our teens develop new skills, hear different perspectives and give our kids the leadership skills that they can bring back to Kol Ami and share with our community. While it is a little nerve wracking for parents that our teens will be travelling alone to Atlanta, it is also very exciting that five kids (so far) from Kol Ami will attend.

As you can imagine, attendance in these youth events does come with a cost and we are fortunate at Kol Ami that The Nancy Wechsler Youth Scholarship Fund, and the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund are available to help offset some of the expenses associated with Weekend Retreats, Conventions and Camp. As we head to the end of the calendar year, once again Kol Ami will be asking members to participate in our year end appeal. The focus this year will be on the funds that support our successful youth programming and I encourage you to participate as we work toward developing the leaders of tomorrow.

B’Shalom,

Mark Wolpert