National Volunteer Leadership Conference a Success

The Friendship Circle, the international volunteer organization for children with special needs and their families, recently hosted its first-ever Volunteer Leadership Conference for girls at its flagship center in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The three-day Shabbaton conference, which ran Jan. 26-28, 2007, was “an amazing success,” said Rabbi Bentzi Groner, director of the Shluchim Office-based international office.

The event was designed to take teen Friendship Circle volunteerism to the next level of professionalism, and featured a number of educational workshops and lectures. These included presentations by autism expert Dr. Richard Solomon; noted disabled-athlete activist Duncan Wyeth; special-children activist Mrs. Val McFarlin; popular author and teen motivator Rabbi Simcha Weinstein; and Friendship Circle co-founder Mrs. Bassie Shemtov.

After a Friday 9:00 a.m. arrival and registration at the Ferber-Kaufman LifeTown facility and a 9:30 a.m. breakfast, participants were given a Friendship Circle history and overview at 10:00 by Mrs. Shemtov. The young activists were then given a guided tour of the Meer Family Friendship Center, followed by rollerblading and return to their accommodations at the JCC for Shabbos. After Friday-night services at The Shul of West Bloomfield, the teens enjoyed a Shabbos meal with Rabbi Weinstein, in turn followed by “campaign speeches” by volunteers running for Volunteer Club president.

Shabbos day began with 10:00 a.m. davening at The Shul followed by two workshops at 12:30 p.m. Campaign speeches for Vice President capped off a 1:30 p.m. Shabbos lunch, followed by a rest period and 3:45 p.m. campaign speeches for Coordinator. At 4:00 p.m., the volunteers spent an hour with several Friendship Circle families from the West Bloomfield area, followed by a 5:00 Seudah Shlishis keynoted by Mrs. McFarlin.

Shabbos was ushered out with a 6:30 p.m. Havdalah led by FC West Bloomfield volunteer Laurie Weizman, followed by Dr. Solomon’s lecture presentation at 7:15 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. workshops. A video presentation by Mr. Rick Lavoie and Mrs. Brocha Zahler was then screened–followed by a 9:00 p.m. stretched hummer scavenger hunt that surprised everyone!

Upon return to LifeTown, the group of volunteers bunched together at 10:30 p.m. for a giddy, grin-filled group photo. One final workshop at 11:00 p.m.–with no signs of the teens’ abundant energy flagging–closed out the evening.

Sunday morning was marked with a 10:00 a.m. brunch and banquet, highlighted by the powerful delivery of Duncan Wyeth, a legendary disabled athlete and motivational speaker. At the same event, the Friendship Circle utilized the unprecedented presence of 43 volunteer teen leaders ages 15-17 and 12 adult coordinators to roll out its new International Volunteer Network. Voting results were also announced, with Montreal FC teen volunteer Ariel Charney elected as the Network’s first President, Zoe Pinter and Melissa Rotblot, of FC Detroit and Cleveland, respectively, appointed Vice Presidents, and FC Cleveland’s Jessie Weberman tapped to serve as Coordinator.

Demonstrating that their leadership responsibilities are real, the young leaders unveiled their first self-conceived Conference program at the brunch banquet–a new national campaign entitled “A Child’s Imprint”, with more details to be announced in coming weeks.

And in another Conference first, a central volunteer network website entitled FCVolunteer.com, was announced. It will be launched in a few weeks.

The Conference formally concluded with the brunch’s end at 1:30 p.m., as new friends hugged each other goodbye and departed for the airport.