JTA.org -- Building identity through service

JTA.org -- Building identity through service: "Benjamin Gittleson has some unusual weekend plans. On Sunday he’ll take the half-hour ride from Gaithersburg, Md., to the northeastern area of Washington for a day in the park — Watts Branch Park, once known for drug pushers and addicts, piles of decaying trash and thatches


Benjamin will be joining 100 to 150 other area teens from the Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute on Sunday in a day-long clean-up effort at the city park.

“A lot of high-schoolers see community service as something they’re not looking forward to,” says Benjamin, a 10th-grader at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Md. “This activity, among others we do, is enjoyable, and you really feel like you’re bettering the community and making a big difference. I’m looking forward to it. It exposes you to a totally different area.”"