Teen philanthropy

Jewish Community Youth Foundation, which brings together teens in grades eight through 12 from the Mercer and Bucks counties area, will kick off its 16th year giving back to local, national, and global non-profits this fall. JCYF is a project of Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County and funded by the Ricky and Andrew J. Shechtel Philanthropic Fund and the Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks.

Each teen philanthropist donates his/her own money, which gets matched and pooled with money raised at JCYFund-Day phone-athon. Students meet to discuss tzedakah, assess the kinds of programs and issues they wish to explore, and visit those agencies; at year-end, each group decides how their dollars will be donated. Since its inception, teens have donated $798,734 to over 60 different Jewish agencies.  Registration is open for all participants in eighth through 10th grades, and returning participants in 11th and 12th grades. Visit jfcsonline.org/jcyf or contact Celeste Albert at 609-987-8100, ext. 210, or CelesteA@jfcsonline.org.