The youth group of Temple Sholom, affectionately referred to as “TASTY” by group members, has greatly progressed since last year. We held three Kids’ Night Outs, which raised over $1500 dollars for youth groupers to have an affordable Washington D.C. trip and collecting myriad items for the homeless in the process. We were able to carry out the Washington D.C. trip we had been planning for years and saw it flourish as the youth group became closer together while learning tremendous amounts of information from visits to the RAC (Reform Movements Lobbying Group), meetings with staff from our local congressional offices, the Newseum, the monuments, and the Holocaust Museum. On a more local level, we began attending services and plan to make it an integrated part of next year’s TASTY. From apple picking, a Sephardic themed sleepover, the annual Hibatchi lunch, sardines (hide and go seek), playing at Verona Park, to a poverty discussion, TASTY events have never been more organized, successful, or fun. Our ultimate goal for next year is to incorporate more social action into our events, increase fundraising to make youth group events more affordable, and increase our attendance at NFTY events (of which TASTY had nine members attend this year). We say good-bye to our old board including exiting seniors Alyson Roseman, President; Chloe Piccola, Membership; Kyle Friedman, Programming; Emily Shields, Secretary; Robert Plaxe, Webmaster and hello to our new one:

· Alex Schwartz, President

· Hannah Ritter, Vice President

· Jared Plaxe, Membership

· Rachel Steinfeld, Religious and Cultural

· Lisa Fierstein, Fundraising

· Michael Schwartz, Fundraising

· John Horowicz, NFTY-GER Rep

· Jake Roseman, Photographer

We hope to see everyone at our Youth Group Creative Service on May 14. Thanks for all of your love and support Temple Sholom (especially OUR PARENTS)!

Sincerely,

Alyson Roseman (President 2008-2010)

Temple Sholom of West Essex Youth Group

Who are we? The Temple Sholom of West Essex youth group is for 6-12^thgraders. Most of our members come from North Caldwell, Montclair, Essex Fells, Cedar Grove, Verona, and West Orange.

Teens create their own activities, so that they can learn, grow, and most of all have a great time together! We have two separate youth groups:

Junior Youth Groupfor 6^th-8^thgraders

 We meet once a month for a fun program or trip. We have gone bowling, to Funplex, Great Adventure, and the movies.

 Senior Youth Group for 9^th-12^thgraders:

 Visit our website here 

We meet 2-3 times a month and do a variety of different programs like: Passover Chocolate Seder, Casino Night, Movie Night, Community Service, Mall Scavenger Hunt, trips to Great Adventure, Out to Dinner, and many, many more.

 We are a part of NFTY-GER. NFTY is a national reform youth group movement and stands for National Federation of Temple Youth. GER stands for Garden Empire Region.

NFTY is a place where Jewish teens come together for learning, worship, community service, to meet new people, and for lots and lots of fun!! NFTY-GER teens are from Central and Northern New Jersey and Rockland and Orange Counties in New York. We get together for 5 Kallah’s (3-5 day conventions) a year as well as many other types of events.

Who are our leaders?

Youth Group Director: Erin McKinney-Prupis has been our advisor since January 2005. She is a Temple Sholom Senior Youth Group alumni and is a past president!

Senior Youth Group Board

Co-Presidents: Alyson Roseman and Jared Laxer

Co-Programming VPs: Kyle Friedman and Paul Gold

Social Action VP: Emily Gold

Membership VP: Chloe Piccola

Religious and Cultural VP: Emily Shields

NFTY-GER Rep: Robert Plaxe

Co-9^thGrade Reps: Rachel Steinfeld and Sarah Gilmore

Kids Night Out Assistant: Hannah Ritter

For more information please contact Erin at ERMP@aol.com or our presidents at jaredandalyson@yahoo.com.