TORONTO — Teens for the Community (TFC) isn’t just about giving high school students a way to complete their mandatory community service hours, said Rabbi Shmuli Nachlas, director of the Chabad Youth Network, which runs the program.

Local MPP Peter Shurman presents a certificate of recognition to Josh Freedman, president of Teens for the Community Thornhill.

“At the beginning, the incentive might be the hours,” he said, “but in the bigger picture, they end up enjoying the program, loving what they’re doing, and getting a lot of self-gratification.”

The 70 students involved in TFC were recognized at a May 26 dinner at Petah Tikva Anshe Castilla Congregation.

Each volunteer received the same award regardless of his or her position. In addition to a certificate, they were also presented with a red zip-up sweatshirt bearing the Chabad Youth Network logo.

“Everybody did a lot, and so we wanted to thank each person for their individual work,” said Michael Saskin, president of TFC Forest Hill.

The program, which has three divisions – in Thornhill, Forest Hill, and Toronto – is designed to give students a way to give back to the community.

The students were responsible for organizing several events, such as creating blankets for hospitalized children, baking loaves of challah for the homeless and organizing a bingo bash for the elderly.

“The work we do is very fulfilling,” Saskin said.

Rabbi Nachlas said students used to approach him looking for ways to complete their 40 hours of community service required for high school graduation. Chabad Youth Network would accept the volunteers and ask for their help in menial tasks such as paperwork.

However, Rabbi Nachlas said he wanted to give teens a more meaningful way to fulfil the requirement, and to show them the fun in giving back to the community around them.

Josh Freedman, president of TFC Thornhill, said he’s been involved in the program from the beginning and has enjoyed watching the numbers double since last year’s recognition dinner.

One of the nicest parts of TFC is recruiting students and helping them find meaningful ways to help the community, he said.

“Don’t make community service a burden,” he said. “Everyone’s fully capable of taking a small part of their day and helping someone else.”

Both Freedman and Saskin said their favourite event was a basketball tournament whose entry fees went to help enrich the life of a boy with cancer. The players also wrote messages to the boy, although they did not know him.

Keeping giver and receiver anonymous allowed the teens to fulfil the highest form of tzedakah, said Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman, who spoke at the dinner.

Shurman said it’s rare to see such quick growth in a charity group, which he described as “excellent” because it invests in the students, providing them with a foundation of skills they need to become charity-driven adults.

“It’s creating leaders of tomorrow,” Rabbi Nachlas said. “They’re creating light in this world and dispelling darkness.”