TORONTO — Five hundred Toronto-area teens will participate in a day of community service and improvement projects when they take part in J‑Serve, the Global Day of Jewish Youth Service, on April 28.

They will join some 10,000 Jewish teens from across North America, Europe and Israel, who will all be doing community service on the same day.

J‑Serve is the Jewish component of Youth Service America’s annual Global Youth Service Day and also coincides with the sixth annual ChangeTheWorld-Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge. The province’s three-week challenge kicked off April 21 in partnership with Volunteer Canada’s National Volunteer Week, Canada’s largest celebration of volunteers, volunteerism, and civic participation.

J-Serve Toronto, co-ordinated by BBYO in partnership with dozens of youth movements, synagogues and social service agencies from across the city, is one of over 100 international projects in which youth in grades 6 through 12 will participate as they explore the Jewish values of gemilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness), tzedakah (charitable giving) and tikkun olam (the responsibility to repair the world). 

This is the fourth year that Jewish teens from across the GTA will have the opportunity to participate in the international initiative, with funding from UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the BBYO Panim Institute.

Participants can choose from more than a dozen project options, including planting trees and shrubs at city parks, assembling education kits for families in need or playing games and hosting a sing-along for young adults with physical and cognitive challenges.

For more information or to register as a teen participant or adult chaperone for the event please visit www.jserve.ca .