J-Teens Come Through for Kids

WESTMOUNT, Canada — The giving season came early to the Montreal Children’s Hospital last Tuesday, when Chabad Westmount’s youth group, J-teens, arrived bearing toy donations for the young patients.

Director of J-teens, Rabbi Asher Hecht, said the youth program teaches youngsters to give back to their community, and instill in them a lifelong habit of giving.


“These children are learning what it means to help people. They’re learning hands-on what it means to make a difference in the world,” he said.

J-teens was started only two months ago, after Dianne and Myer Richler created a grant for the program. Hecht said the idea behind the group was to provide the teenagers with a non-academic learning environment, and that his main hope is that they will carry that knowledge with them until they become society’s decision makers.

“The importance of giving — that stays with them for the rest of their lives,” he said.

About 30 teens between 13 and 17 years of age meet every two weeks, each time with a new community project to carry out. At the previous meeting, the 180 toys to be donated were wrapped and made ready for the Nov. 6 hospital visit. About half were given to the Montreal Children’s Hospital, while the rest went to patients at Hôpital Ste. Justine. The donation was a joint effort with the New York-based charity NCSJE, which provided the toys through their Toys for Hospitalized Children program, which distributes toys to charities all over North America.

Even though the J-teens program is fairly new, the teenagers have community projects planned out for the winter. Those plans include donating blue packages to Montreal’s poor, as well as an outreach program for the elderly. The teens will visit the seniors, as well as help shovel driveway snow.

The student board of J-teens consists of President Jonathan Mashaal, Vice-Presidents Jacob Dubrovsky and Adam Shiri, as well as secretaries Emma Jo Morris and Michelle Segal.