Friendship Circle Volunteers ‘Shine Bright’

Shine Bright was the theme of this year’s Friendship Circles volunteer appreciation event. 200 girls and their proud mothers came together at the JCM on Monday night to salute the work and dedication of the volunteers this year.

Mrs. Chani Majesky, Director of the Friendship Circle of Brooklyn, began the night with a heartwarming speech comparing the girls to the stars in the night sky; dazzling, bright and able to spot from a distance. She told over the story of a man with Cerebral Palsy, wheelchair bound, but pushed by his father for over 1000 marathons. His dream was to one day be able to push his father.

A short film emphasizing this point had the crowd in tears as they watched how Hudi Klein, a special volunteer and a member of FC, now makes weekly visits to her little friend Rivka; both girls have Down’s Syndrome.

Inspiring words were delivered by Mrs. Shuffi Telsner, thanking the mothers for allowing their girls to pay visits to these special children, even if help was needed in their own homes during that time. She described the impact this has on the entire home and family.

Mrs. Libby Chein, a member of the FC Parent Advisory Committee and mother of a volunteer, presented the school presidents with a gift on behalf of all the FC families, thanking them for their tireless contributions to the organization.

A beautiful acapella choir accompanied a slideshow of pictures from many events that occurred this year.

The highlight of the evening came next: representatives from each program stepped up on stage to introduce the program that they took part in and announced how many hours of volunteering this program had given over the year. Hours given to Winter Camp, Public Holidays, Friends at Home, Sunday Circle, Jewish Holiday Events, Behind the Scenes, Teens & 20s program and others totaled 5754 – that’s 230 days of round-the-clock volunteering.

The volunteers were then led in a roll call by Moussia Telsner, encouraging them to stand proudly, wave their glow sticks and continue shining bright!

The program ended off with girls receiving sweatshirts in appreciation for all their dedication. An iPad was raffled off to one lucky winner.

Special thank yous go to Mushki Tenenbaum and Sheina Chincholker for all their help in arranging and assisting with this event, and to Mrs. Tzipporah Hahn for the beautiful setup.