In the words of one of our participants, today, we “earned our wheels.” As you all know, our first few days of the trip have required patience, flexibility, and a tremendous amount of resilience. But I am proud to say that we have a big, beautiful, fully functioning bus! Today, we got our day started Continue Reading »
Our first activity of the day was a volunteering opportunity at A Wider Circle. A Wider Circle is a non-profit organization that works to fill the immediate needs of people rising out of poverty. The teens worked in different groups organizing things from clothes to books to paintings. These items were then ready to be Continue Reading »
For day 2, we returned right back to Temple Aliyah, which was the shul where we had dinner at on Wednesday night . We davened and headed to Mayyim Hayyim, an organization that promotes safe and inclusive mikvah experiences. We learned about the mikvah process and the important work that they are doing. We then Continue Reading »
We made it to the Motor City! We started our morning at Chair-ity, a nonprofit that supplies furniture to young adults who age out of the foster system. Next, we volunteered at Walls of Love. We ziptied bags filled with essential items for Downtown Cleveland residents in need. Bus C Wheelniks then hopped back on Continue Reading »
…and we’re back! After 3 long summers off, USY on Wheels is back on the road! Today, all the way from Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, New York, Orlando, and even Vancouver, our PNW mishpacha (family) is finally together in Seattle! After a couple hours of breaking the ice at SeaTac Airport, we rode the shuttle back Continue Reading »
This morning during Shacharit we welcomed in the new month of Tammuz with Hallel. Our first stop of the day was the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C. The Wheelniks saw animals from all over the world including the giant panda and the red panda! Our plans changed a little bit from originally scheduled because Continue Reading »
Dear Parents, It has been a great (almost) 48 hours of meeting your kids and getting to know them. Once you said your goodbyes on Tuesday, we opened the summer with lots of ice breakers. One of the icebreakers included having the participants interview one other. Each teen wrote down 3 questions on an index Continue Reading »
Bus C is back on the bus for another great day! After our wonderful night in Pittsburgh, we visited the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh for a discussion with members of the 1027 Healing Partnership. We spoke about how the Tree of Life Shooting affected the community as well as the Jewish and Christian perspectives on Continue Reading »
Day 1 on the road! We started our morning off with a sicha during shacharit that was about the importance of tefillah this summer and how we can each connect to it in our own ways. On our first bus ride of the summer, we went through FOUR states! From New Jersey to Delaware to Continue Reading »
We’re on the road! Leaving Somerset this morning, we headed over to our first new state: Pennsylvania. On the bus, we celebrated our staff Mara’s 21st birthday! We went to Hershey’s Chocolate World where singing cows taught us about chocolate making and candy satisfied our sweet tooth. Next, we visited the Flight 93 Memorial to Continue Reading »
