Delivering a Message of Hope in a Bottle
When 15-year-old Elliot Cohen of S. Diego heard that Bike 4 Friendship would begin their cross-country trek in support of special needs children in his hometown, he knew he wanted to be involved.
So Elliot, together with a group of other communally active teenagers who make up Youth Action Movement, or YAM, decided that they would support the bikers by designing and creating personalized water bottles for the bikers to use, and distribute all across the country. Each bottle would include an inspirational message written by the teens, helping bring Bike 4 Friendship’s mission of hope to even more people.
“It’s a small gesture,” says Cohen, “but hopefully it will have a big impact.”
Bike 4 Friendship, which begins on June 16 and is entering its third year, is a trans-continental bike trip to raise awareness and support for the Friendship Circle, the world’s fastest growing Jewish organization dedicated to assisting special needs children and their families. According to Mendel Groner, the trip’s coordinator, this year’s trip will include eleven dedicated cyclists, who will pedal the entire 3,150 miles to New York, taking a different route than previous years.
“We started with three bikers, last year we had eight, and this year we have eleven,” explains Groner. “This year we are also adding a women’s trip with ten cyclists, which will leave two weeks later and go from Miami to New York.
“We are also really excited to have the participation of the YAM teens in S. Diego; it adds that much more to the whole positive atmosphere of the trip.”
YAM is the brainchild of its founder Rabbi Zevi New, who opened the teen organization in March of 2012, after seeing the need for a place in S. Diego where Jewish teens could get involved Jewishly, and just hang out.
“YAM has a number of boards, and the teens are members of the board,” describes Rabbi New. “When we heard Bike 4 Friendship would be starting here we wanted to do something, and our humanitarian board spearheaded this project.”
“It’s called Message in a Bottle, and each bottle will have a positive message from the teens. We’re going to be at the trip’s starting point cheering on the bikers and handing these bottles out ourselves, because we really want our teens to have a personal feeling of giving, as well as a connection to the volunteers and the children of Friendship Circle.”
Sasha Pines, another member of YAM and an instrumental part of the Message in a Bottle team, is a 17-year-old who is no stranger to volunteering for the Friendship Circle. She began volunteering as a middle-schooler for Friendship Circle of S. Diego’s popular Friends at Home program, which sees volunteers visit special needs children in the comfort of the child’s own home. Her volunteering eventually led to her founding and organizing Camp Let Loose, a week-long camp for special needs children staffed by teen volunteers.
“Every week I would visit these three special needs brothers,” recalls Pines. “One week we were at the park and I was talking to their mother, and she said that she had tried to register her sons in a swim camp for that summer, but that the camp wouldn’t accept them because they didn’t have enough staff to accommodate her sons. I realized that she had nowhere to send them.”
Acting fast, Sasha approached Elisheva Green, the director of Friendship Circle in S. Diego, and soon Camp Let Loose was born, a day camp which would cater specifically to the developmentally disabled. The counselor-camper ratio is 1:1, ensuring that each child will remain cared for and involved.
“It was difficult because we had nothing to build on, we were starting from scratch, but eventually it all came together and this year will be our second summer. We are also in talks to possibly branch out to Miami and Los Angeles.”
Her past experience with Friendship Circle makes her an even more enthusiastic bottle-maker, and she looks forward to being at push-off event to help motivate and support the bikers and the amazing cause that they are biking for.
“The bikers have worked really hard to train for this,” concludes Groner, “and they’re all very excited to have the opportunity to be able to do something so ambitious like crossing the country on bicycle, all while benefitting such a good cause. But the support that they are getting from the teens of YAM, as well as all of the people that they will meet throughout the country, is key to the success of the trip.”
To donate or to learn more about Bike4Friendship, log on to bike4friendship.org
