Love in the Work Place
2 summers ago I was working my 5th consecutive summer at Camp Tawonga and a small man with immense body hair who was also on the staff was predicting my future.
It looked as though I would have the opportunity to work for a small foundation run by young Jews called The Forest Foundation - and this man, Brady Gill, was saying I would be crazy to not take this chance.
Brady has been right there with everything I've done in the Forest Foundation and we have certainly grown closer for it. It's been a great pleasure to work with a close friend, share such a unique experience and ultimately grow closer as friends in the process.
Pictured here is Brady and I locked up in a big embrace after he received an incredible jacket for his birthday.
Thanks Forest!!
- isaac
Who I work with...
A little insight into the Forest Foundation, my place of work for over a cumulative 2 years now, one year full time...
Morgan Michaels is a hardworker, committed and dedicated to her responsibilities, thinking outside the box and pushing herself farther and farther. My my how she's grown!
Levi Felix of Apples n Honey fame comes with a perceptive eye, breaking things down and seeing the big picture before everyone else. His sustainability minded approach aims to create cohesion, permanence, and uniformity in all that he busies himself with.
Brady Gill has got a heart so big he had to move into his own house. He stays away from San Francisco because he likes the friendliness of the Easy Bay. He isn't afraid to put himself on the line and sticking to his guns if he believes he's headed in the right direction.
Isaac Zones manages to find the humor in nearly everything. He always looks relaxed, like he's playing guitar by a warm bonfire for Jewish kids. Wait. That's his other job.
Dave Cygielman leads us to glory! He has the magical ability to cut through any obstacles, finding the solution and seeing things for what they really are.
You kinda have to be here.
-Aaron
Chronicles of a day on the job
Yesterday I went to visit one of my Program Directors, Oscar, at his program, “Life Chronicles.” My goal at the beginning of the year was to make a point to see all of my Program Directors in action (on the job). I decided that visually seeing and participating in the programs was the best way for me to understand them so I can evaluate my role. My visit surpassed what I expected.
I expected to sit and watch Oscar edit some videos and tell me what he does all day and give me a tour of the office. The only thing that met my expectations was the tour. I went upstairs to meet, Kate Carter, who is the founder of Life Chronicles and Oscars mentor. She had so much life and energy, I could have listened to her for hours. What I thought would be a 40-1 hour visit turned into almost 2 hours of listening to inspirational story after story.
Life Chronicles is a non-profit organization that as the title says, chronicles life. They started the non-profit by video taping terminally ill or elderly people. These people would leave messages to loved ones, tell their stories and share anything so that they would be remember when they passed away. However, I learned that the organization has taken so much more on and has affected so many lives. When she showed me the promotional video I was trying to hard to hold back the tears. She remarked that a day without crying at Life Chronicles would be incomplete.
During my visit there, I realized more and more how incredible and special the Forest Foundation is to me. We are connected to so many powerful and life changing organizations. We have amazing leaders, such as Oscar, who has the heart, drive and passion for making a difference in peoples lives. It is so nice to know that there are other people out there with a simple vision of changing the world. Whether it is making a videotape to remember a loved one or supporting leaders there are people out there making a difference.
-Morgan
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, the SB Apples n Honey was really Coo (slang for cool)
I can officially confirm the truths about the rumors that UCSB is a party school. I will first say that UCSB is rated as the top 3 UC academically, which makes us (even though I am an alumni) pretty damn smart. BUT we do know how to PARTY (especially us Jews)!
Oct. 4th 2006 was the craziest most creative party at the three story club Q’s in downtown SB. It was the infamous APPLES N HONEY party. Throughout the night, members from the foundation walked around with a camera asking people what they would do to change the world. The responses ranged from, “Roses are red, Violets are blue. I’m having fun and so should you!” to “feed all the homeless people”. Small and two of my Program Directors (Oscar and Aaron Schiff) rocked the mic outside the club attracting all the young college students.
The total amount of people that entered the club PAID was 390. Which means there were approximately 400 people that filled the club. It was a huge success. I must say that I was extremely nervous when it was 10:00 and only 15 people were in the club. But I failed to remember that college students love to make fashionably late entrances. Nevertheless the event was incredible.
In a recent flash article, Jessi Cazary (the event planner) commented, “A specific point in the night that really struck me was when we initiated the miracle. I’ll be honest, originally I was a little apprehensive about the whole miracle thing and thought it would seem a little too corny for the event I had envisioned. Yet once I made my way up to the DJ booth that night, my worries had disappeared. I asked everyone to turn to the person next to him or her and share what he or she is looking forward to for this New Year. I believe that this was an opportunity for the attendees of this event to bring something inside of them out and make it a reality just as I had done with Apples ‘N’ Honey.”
Apples n Honey SB 2006 was a night to remember…since we are all about creating memories here at the foundation; I can say without hesitation, these memories will last a lifetime…
-Morgan
A touching story
Sarah Jebrock runs a really exciting program in the Bay Area where she paris up volunteers with immigrants and refugees to tutor them in ESL. This is a portion of an e-mail sent to me from Sarah Jebrock.
"...Also, a wonderful thing happened with the ESL program today! Usually when
I speak to the refugee families for the first time (in person or on the
phone) I ask them to tell me about how they got here, what there specific
needs are, etc. These stories are unfortunately all extremely sad...most
of the families are seprated, with a spouse or children still left in
Guatemala, and either in danger or out of contact. I always feel really
good that our program can bring some joy into their lives by providing
them with a teacher and friend, but I have to say that sometimes those sad
stories are too much. But today was amazing- I met (in person) a
Guatemalan refugee couple that was interested in the program. I asked them
about their story, and they told me that after 5 years of being separated,
the wife in Guatemala and the husband here, they were able to be together
again, AND, all of their children are here with them! This is extremely
rare from what I've seen so far, and it made me so happy to see a family
safe and undivided! I was also able to find a volunteer for them, and now
they will be learning English too! The story just gets better and better..."
This story made me feel amazing about what we at the forest foundation are doing!
--Brady
Up in the Yay!
Hello there!
Aaron here, live from the Bay Area. Brady and East Bay Moishe House have opened their house to me, and in ust a few hours I've managed to experience the berkeley lifestyle, replete with piercings, tattoos, and watching the Oakland A's game. Tomorrow at brady's meeting we'll be leading the first Bay Area training on close relationships, working on the next Foundation Flash, and who knows? Maybe catch another baseball game.
-Aaron
Is this really happening?
I know this is a little late but I wanted to share the experience I had at my first meeting with the college Program Directors.
All day I was really excited and nervous to lead my first meeting of the year and not to mention, my first meeting ever. I have never been in a position like this before. I was anxious to put my leadership skills to the test.
I spent a couple of hours putting together the agenda for the night. I wanted to come up with a great icebreaker game and an effective first meeting. By the time I finished it was 4:00 (the meeting started at 8). I was about to print them all out when I realized that my printer wasn’t working. I figured I would go to Hillel early to print out all the agendas, meet with my last PD, eat dinner and relax before the big hour.
When I arrived at Hillel the doors were closed. I realized that they were not on school hours so the facility would not be open that late. I quickly called Dave and Aaron to ask for advice. I remembered that Brad, one of my PDs had a great house in IV that he suggested I use for a social or meeting one day. I don’t think he realized that it would be so soon. Thanks to Brad we had a place to meet. BUT I still had no agendas. I called around and finally got a hold of Jessi. I went over to use her printer. However, her printer was out of ink and was taking forever to print. We finally figure it all out by 7:40. We rushed over to Brad’s so that I could be there before everyone. I had some of the PDs calling me asking where to park, where to go. I felt like I had drunk 3 cups of coffee. Instead of being nervous I was pumped with adrenal and laughing at all the things that already went wrong.
I rushed up to the bathroom before the meeting started. I got a call from Marissa asking if she was in the right house while I was trying to figure out how to button my pants. Of course the button broke. Luckily, all the misfortunes put me at ease. I was really jittery and excited throughout the whole meeting. I wasn’t nervous because I had so many “oh, man is this really happening moments” that nothing else could have happened. If it did, I probably would have just laughed.
That was my first meeting. I look forward to more this year. Hopefully they will be as exciting as the first. I just hope I don’t break my pants again.
2 summers ago I was working my 5th consecutive summer at Camp Tawonga and a small man with immense body hair who was also on the staff was predicting my future.
