PHILADELPHIA, PA — “A model for a Jewish People unified by shared goals and ideals,” is how Dr. Talya Fishman describes Friendship Circle of Chabad of the Delaware Valley.
Children With Special Needs and Their Parents Applaud Chabad’s Friendship Circle
PHILADELPHIA, PA — “A model for a Jewish People unified by shared goals and ideals,” is how Dr. Talya Fishman describes Friendship Circle of Chabad of the Delaware Valley.
Before a crowd of 350 at the Friendship Circle banquet on Sunday night, Dr. Fishman, an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at University of Pennsylvania, credited Friendship Circle, a project of Guideline Services-Lubavitch House, with helping the community, “discover that what we have in common must be cultivated together if we, as individuals and as a community, are to rise to our potential.”
Dr. Fishman’s daughter Elisheva, 18, has been enjoying weekly visits from Friendship Circle’s teen volunteers since the program began four years ago. Started with a handful of participants by Rabbi Zev and Chani Baram, leaders of Chabad of Old City Philadelphia, Friendship Circle has grown to include 115 volunteers from 15 schools helping 75 children with special needs.
Among them is Lane Tregerman, a handsome 16-year-old, who introduced Rabbi Baram at the dinner. Born with a chromosomal-deletion syndrome, Tregerman speaks through a talker-device. His mom, Sheryl Tregerman, said she was a nervous wreck before Lane came to the podium, but Lane did beautifully.
“He had a look on his face that he knew what he had to do. When he was done, everyone was shaking his hand, hugging him, like he was a rock star,” she said.
A TORONTONION FC VOLUNTEER
GO FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE TORONTO!!!! U GUYZ ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
U ALWAYZ ONLY BRING OUT THE BEST IN THE VOLUNTEERS AND KIDS.
DE Boy
Go Philly!