Across the Country, We Showed Up
Michael Kay Jewish Service Ambassadors are galvanizing communities – one act of service at a time.
By Ari Feinstein, Interim Director, Special Projects
Something is happening in Jewish communities right now. In Atlanta, Colorado, the Bay Area, New York, and other cities across the country, Michael Kay Jewish Service Ambassadors spent the past year showing up: cooking meals, tending farms, packing hygiene kits, and living out a commitment thousands of years in the making.
Real service. Real impact.
There’s a moment that keeps coming up in their stories. The room gets quieter, or louder. People stop just going through the motions. Someone realizes they’re not just filling a box or cutting vegetables. Awareness of the human impact and deeper meaning of responsibility for each other hits. They are now part of something that’s been going on long before them, and will keep going long after. That moment happened again and again this year, across every city, every project, every Ambassador.
As part of our Ambassador Blitz, a driving force behind Repair the World’s Spring National Days of Jewish Service, we’re sharing their stories. Because there’s still time. Spring NDJS runs through April 30, and your story isn’t written yet.
From Atlanta, a shared table becomes a shared story.
Thurneisha Keys didn’t just organize a meal. She brought volunteers and residents of Covenant House Georgia into the same kitchen, cooking together, serving together, and then sitting down to eat side by side with young adults working toward a brighter future.
Before the meal, Thurneisha led the group through a learning on Jewish values, specifically repairing the world, tikkun olam, and the preciousness of each human, kavod ha’briyot. She drew connections between those values and shared experiences within Black communities, framing what they were about to do not as charity, but as solidarity, achdoot.
“The most memorable moment was seeing volunteers and residents connect through conversation and shared service,” she reflected, “reinforcing how dignity and care can create meaningful cross-community connection.”
There’s a difference between serving someone and standing alongside them. Thurneisha knew which experience she was there to lead, and brought it to life through every moment of that meal.
From learning to doing, volunteers plant, weed, and grow at Grassroots Farmers in Colorado.
From Colorado, service takes root.
Alexandra Wertheimer and her volunteers gathered under a tent at Grassroots Farmers, surrounded by the sounds of city traffic blending with the noise of the farm. Before getting to work, the group circled up for a brief introduction, a moment of meditation, and a conversation about the Jewish connection to land stewardship, leading to a shared intention for the day.
Then they got their hands dirty. Teams tackled planting, weeding, spreading leaves on garden beds, and making signs. Muddy boots and smiles said everything about how the service experience felt. Despite the weather, turnout was strong, and watching volunteers move from learning to doing brought something real to life for all of them.
“Despite the weather, the dedication and hard work of the volunteers showed how Jewish learning inspires action,” Alexandra reflected.
For anyone who wants to learn more about Jewish service, she has a simple case to make: you may leave exhausted but you’ll also leave enriched, knowing you’ve contributed to something real. That’s repairing the world, tikkun olam, not as a concept but something you feel with your own hands.
Students come together to pack hygiene kits, finding connection through shared service.
From the Bay Area, unity through care packages.
At a Bay Area university, Sapir Brand led a group of students in packing 100 hygiene kits filled with supplies and Israeli snacks for members of the broader community in need. The work was collaborative, but what lingered was what happened after the packing – when the group sat down, got to know one another, and reflected on what they’d built together.
“It has not been easy being a Jewish and Israeli student on campus,” Sapir said, “and through volunteering, many students – Jewish, Israeli, and others – had a place to come together as one and connect.”
The kits went out into the world. The community built in that room will last even longer.
Laci and volunteers pack Shower Bus supplies in New York, guided by the belief that every person deserves to be seen and cared for.
From New York, dignity in the details.
Laci Chisholm didn’t just organize a Shower Bus Packing Party, she asked everyone in the room to stop and think about whom they were packing for. That reframing, she said, shifted everything.
“The most memorable moment was realizing how much dignity is tied to something as simple as a clean towel or a bar of soap,” Laci reflected.
She came to the work grounded in b’tzelem Elohim, the Jewish principle that every person is created in the Divine image. It’s a value that draws a clear line between empathy and pity, between equity and charity. Laci knew which line she wanted to be on.
“Come with an open mind,” she said to anyone considering volunteering. “It’s not just about helping others, it’s about being changed by the experience.”
These four Ambassadors represent just a fraction of the young adults who showed up this year: at dinner tables and working farms, on campuses and in their community, living their values through Jewish service. Through Repair the World, they found community and deepened their Jewish identity, reminding us that repair is ongoing and never done alone.
Their stories are still being written. Yours could be next. The Ambassador Blitz runs through April 30 – come find your moment. Don’t wait – join the Blitz before April 30.
