Isaac Nieder, a seventh grader at Denver Jewish Day School, recently completed a mitzvah project for JFS in preparation for his upcoming bar mitzvah at Hebrew Educational Alliance in January. He chose to collect monetary donations and toys for our Bright Holidays program. Isaac explains, “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents have lost their jobs and need to provide for their kids. I wanted to collect toys for children so they would have presents that they might not have been able to get for the holidays.”

His parents, Sara and Brad, supported his efforts by sharing the project on their Facebook pages. Isaac also emailed many companies and stores to ask for donations or discounts. Fortunately, Mattel offered a discounted rate for JFS to purchase toys, which we will be able to use in future years as well!

Isaac collected approximately $7,000 worth of toys, including monetary donations that were used to purchase toys for our client families.

To complete the project, Isaac and his family dropped off the toy donations at JFS and helped distribute them to families at the food pantry. Isaac said, “I enjoyed choosing toys and seeing the program in person!”

If other teens are looking to do a similar service project, Isaac advises, “Start as soon as possible so you have time to advertise and figure out all the details.”

Thank you so much to Isaac, his family, and everyone who contributed to the project!

If your child or family member is interested in mitzvah projects for JFS, please contact Nancy Benyamin, director of Volunteer Services at 720.248.4642.