Community Service-Keshet

Last Sunday I visited Keshet Sunday School, a Jewish sunday school for people with special needs. I had never really interacted with people that have special needs, except for this man that comes into Walgreens to buy cigarettes every once in a while, so I didn't know what to expect. I met with Rana, the coordinator of the Sunday school, and she assigned me and the other volunteers to specific rooms. In my room, I met Rebecca, Tomima, Matt, Marissa, and a few others. Matt and Marissa had their own volunteers that had worked with them before, Rebecca was paired up with another volunteer, and Tomima was paired up with me. Tomima is one of the nicest girls I have ever met; she was covered in pink from head to toe, pink skirt, pink shirt, and even a pink wristband and she kept smiling wide at everyone that passed by.

The day consisted of singing songs, doing arts and crafts, and snack time. In the lunchroom, I helped Tomima make an Israeli flag for the Walk for Israel walk she, and the others, will be attending a week from today. I gave her strips of paper to glue and I helped her put the strips onto the correct spots on the paper. Then we made a handle for the flag and she signed her name on the back, with a pink marker. Talking to her, I found out her birthday was the next day and she will be turning 30, that she loves the jokes the Rabbi makes, and that Matt is her boyfriend. Rebecca and Tomima stayed near each other and kept complimenting each other on their sense of humor and they kept making everyone laugh, with their great personalities. Rebecca, the outgoing and talkative one, turned 27 that day so she brought cupcakes for everyone and felt really bad that the Rabbi wasn't in that room with us to share them. After cupcakes and snack time, we went back into a different room to sing songs. We clapped to every song and when it was all over, I walked her out to get picked up.

I had a lot of fun going to Keshet and meeting all of these great people; everyone was so friendly and I was disappointed to hear that their sunday school only went until the beginning of June. I feel extremely comfortable talking to people with special needs now and I will definitely volunteer at places helping those with special needs again.