This winter break, dozens of Yeshiva University students chose to head off on various service missions and experiential learning trips organized by YU’s Center for the Jewish Future. While many of the trips saw students heading back to familiar CJF haunts, like Nicaragua, Mexico, and Israel, 27 students participated in a groundbreaking CJF initiative. Instead of spending their time helping build vital community centers or uplifting disadvantaged children, these unique Yeshiva University students chose to devote their time to a far more lofty cause: Project Penina.
For five days, a select group of dynamic YU students dedicated their time and energy to cleaning up 11-year-old Woodmere resident Penina Klein’s bedroom. “It’s crazy that it took so long for the CJF to recognize the tremendous need that exists just a few minutes away from YU!” commented Sy Syms student Mark Itting. The room, according to one Project Penina participant was “in really bad shape; there must have been at least six of those black Hardtail skirts piled in a corner!”
The selfless group of YU students had never before been exposed to the kind of issues they were suddenly faced with, and even a four day training session with two bathroom breaks could not have prepared them for what they faced that first day. SCW senior and Biology major Tippy Kull recalls how, when she walked into Penina’s room for the first time, the sight was so shocking that she nearly dropped her Starbucks latte. “There were just dozens of unmatched Ugg boots, in all different lengths and colors, scattered haphazardly across the room.” Tippy continues, explaining, “And that’s when it hit me, you know? Like, whoa. We are doing really big stuff here… and I’m a part of it.”
For many of the Project Penina participants, the overwhelmed feelings Tippy mentioned turned into a tremendous sense of accomplishment by the end of the mission. “There’s just something so empowering about going into a community that is so totally foreign from anything I’ve ever known and really giving of myself,” gushes Lawrence resident Shelly Terd, an SCW junior majoring in Biology. For some students, the mission gave them a new sense of purpose. “I’ve been working towards that full ride to Einstein that every Bio major in Stern is after since I was about six,” explains Anna Tomey, “but ever since Project Penina, I’m seriously considering a career that will actually help people in a very real way, and so I’ve begun working towards my Personal Shopper certification.”
Shai Guy, a psychology major at YC, recalls the agonizing decision he had to make about how to spend his winter break:“I was seriously considering volunteering to clean up the Sandy-stricken shores of Atlantic Beach, but when I heard about Project Penina, I realized that I didn’t want to just spend my break chilling on the beach and that I actually wanted to do something meaningful with my time.” While the participants on all the CJF winter missions returned from their experiences energized and inspired, Project Penina participants certainly take home the grand prize for joining together on this inaugural trip to truly make an impact on the life of one Five Towns sixth-grader.