Jewish National Fund redefines spring break<br>Connecticut young people join innovative program
By Cindy Mindell

WESTPORT -- The very words "spring break" can cause the hardiest parent of a college-age kid to shudder. Stories of mayhem are legion. But with all your friends migrating south for the week, is there any choice?
Enter Rabbi Eric Lankin of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Two years ago, Lankin designed the Alternative Spring Break (ASB), a week-long work-study trip to Israel. Initially intended as a follow-up program to Taglit-birthright Israel, of which JNF is a sponsor, ASB is open to any 18- to 30-year-old who has already visited Israel. 
"JNF is concerned with Jews at all stages of life, so we wanted to make sure that people who go to Israel continue to be engaged, educated, and energized, involved in the destiny of the Jewish people in Israel," he says.
ASB gives participants the opportunity not only to volunteer in Israel, but to learn about philanthropy. JNF sets up a website for each applicant, who then solicits friends and family for donations to Blueprint Negev, JNF's effort as part of a partnership to revitalize Israel's south. In March and early April of this year, 220 young adults raised &#036;250,000 for Blueprint Negev and expanded the program to three one-week visits. Supplemental funding from JNF donors and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation covered all costs of the trip.
 "As soon as they got off the plane, they went to work," Lankin says of this year's participants, who "did extraordinary things" volunteering in the Negev, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. The trip also included educational programs and discussions on how Israel fits into the participants' Jewish commitments and destiny.
JNF works with several partner agencies in Israel to set up ASB volunteer opportunities. In addition to its Israel counterpart, Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael, JNF collaborates with the Ayalim, a non-profit organization in Dimona; New Spirit, a student volunteer group; Table to Table, which harvests and ships donated crops to poor families; Shorashim, a Chicago-based non-profit that promotes Israel education and volunteer opportunities; and the Or Movement in Be'er Sheva, which helps people relocate to the Negev.
"Our commitment is to offer transformational educational experiences... to create a deeper, more lasting engagement with Israel."" says Lankin. 

Giving back

For the four Connecticut residents on ASB this year, JNF hit its mark.
Julia Rosenberg of Avon, a Cornell University sophomore, worked at a low-income housing complex in the Negev development town of Dimona. "By the end of our short time there, the community looked noticeably brighter," she says. "Stepping back to see how different the houses looked after a few hours of work provided one of the most powerful images from this trip of the difference we are capable of making. It was amazing to be able to speak to individual residents of the area, as they came out of their homes to admire the new façade of their building, or to offer their help. Painting the apartment was just one of our many projects over the course of the week, but our group came together that day and really began to understand the feelings of commitment and pride that comes from working in and developing the Negev."
Andrea Kozak lives in New Canaan, where she works as an assistant kindergarten teacher at New Canaan Country School. She first went to Israel with birthright, and always wanted to return. ASB allowed her the opportunity to see parts of Israel often overlooked, and to work with struggling communities trying to establish themselves in the Negev. 
"After ASB, I feel like a pioneer," she says. "I am so lucky to have been a part of starting to develop the Negev. My experience strengthened my connection to the land and people of Israel, and reminded me of how important it is to give back, both to the communities in which I live and the communities that are an important part of my heritage."
Hannah DeLucia of New Fairfield is an undergrad at UMass, and was inspired by her mom, who found the JNF website and suggested the trip. 
"At first I wanted to have a classic college spring break, go to Cancun with a bunch of friends," says DeLucia, who first went to Israel with NFTY and served as community-service chair for the local branch of the youth group. "But as break got closer, I realized that I would have a much better time on this trip. I would make new friends and help Israel."
DeLucia was happy to be immersed in Israeli culture, and to hear Hebrew all around her. She worked in Dimona, clearing brush, painting a playground, and picking strawberries with Table to Table, her favorite activity.
Daniel Walker of Stratford was last in Israel 10 years ago, and says he saw ASB "as an excellent opportunity to not only visit the areas I had loved on my past visits, but go to these developing towns in the desert and see a side of Israel that I knew very little about."
He too worked in Dimona, building a park.
"We were clearing some land of bushes and weeds and these Israeli children were bringing us water and laughing and playing with us," he says. "Even though we could not speak their language or communicate in that sense, it was amazing to see the gratitude they had for what we were doing." 
Walker, who knew no one in his group, was struck by his fellow participants. 
"The American students and young professionals I met, worked, and socialized with for that week were some of the most intelligent, driven people I have met in my entire life," he says. "My expectations had been to go, do a little work, and come home, but in the end I met some great people that I am sure I will be friends with for a very long time. I am definitely thinking about going back next year."
ASB participants talking about a return trip is what Rabbi Lankin lives for. Julia Rosenberg echoes the sentiment, expressed by her fellow group-members.
"None of us can forget the impact we made by working just a few short hours a day, and many of us expressed our hope to return and give back even more," she says. "After this trip, we really began to understand that it is our role to develop and cultivate the Negev so that it can continue to be 'our land.'"
Even MTV lists JNF's Alternative Spring Break on its website. 
For more information, go to the source: <a href="http://www.jnf.org/asb">www.jnf.org/asb</a>.