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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/18237/full/18237/with-180-berkeley-students-spread-wealth-of-good-will/ <br /><br /> <b>With $180, Berkeley students spread wealth of good will</b> <br /> Friday, August 9, 2002 | by <p>LEE KRAVETZ </p> <br /><br /><p>Early this year, Jennifer Mangel, assistant director of Berkeley Hillel, gave $180 each to 16 Berkeley students committed to social action.<br /><br /> "Your job will be to put this money into the community, come back in a few months, and tell us what you did with it," she explained to all 16 Jewish students who accepted her challenge.<br /><br /> Within two months, a project by U.C. Berkeley sophomore Talli Hogan demonstrated the program's success. Hogan used her share of the money to take youngsters from East Bay shelters on a teddy-bear building field trip—and also managed to generate more than $1,000 in donations for further outings.<br /><br /> Mangel's idea, Doing Good Will, was inspired by an innovation grant she and Berkeley Hillel jointly received from San Francisco-based Ti-ke-a, a Fellowship for Educators of Jewish Teens. The $10,000 grant was intended to help teachers grow as educators. Mangel took a portion of the funds to sponsor the social action program that would, in theory, continue to give back to the community many times over.<br /><br /> The idea behind Doing Good Will was to see how far limited resources could reach in the hands of a group of innovative students.<br /><br /> The program was divided into three parts, "Thinking with your heart," "Working with your hands" and "Working with your feet." Students responded with pioneering original projects, which included giving Oakland ninth graders who come from economically disadvantaged families an opportunity to see a production of "STOMP" in San Francisco.<br /><br /> Another project found a student donating resources to the Canines for Companionship program, a nonprofit organization that trains dogs to assist disabled people in everyday tasks, such as opening doors and pushing buttons.<br /><br /> Mangel gave no specific guidelines to the volunteers, all Jewish undergraduates, most of whom attend U.C. Berkeley, about how to spend the money. The projects did not need to be steeped in Jewish content or have to benefit the Jewish community. The only stipulation was that students had to "do something good with it."<br /><br /> "The idea was to give back to the community, hopefully in a way that would continue to pay it forward," said Mangel.<br /><br /> "Paying it forward" is a concept where one good deed continues to pay off in a snowball effect of more good deeds. For example, one student used the $180 to make tzedakah boxes, which then went to a local Jewish community organization with the understanding that once $50 was collected, the organization would take the money and buy a new box to give to another organization, Mangel explained. <br /><br /> U.C. Berkeley sophomores Nadav Ben-Barak and Sarah Accomazzo started off with an elaborate plan to finance a poetry program for children in Oakland elementary schools, but quickly ran into logistical problems.<br /><br /> So they switched gears and decided to spend the money on pots, soil and seeds. They painted the pots and delivered them to people at the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living in Danville.<br /><br /> But like many of the students engaged in the Doing Good Will project, they learned that spending $180 is not as easy as they thought it might be.<br /><br /> They were surprised to find that area businesses, such as Orchard Supply Hardware, were willing to donate many of the resources they needed, leaving the pair with more than two-thirds of their original $180 in their pockets.<br /><br /> So with the extra money, they bought carnations and gave them to AC Transit bus drivers in Berkeley.<br /><br /> "The goal was to say, 'Thanks, you're not going unnoticed,'" Ben-Barak said. "The philosophy behind this program is that if a butterfly flaps its wings, it causes a huge effect elsewhere. We believe that a smile can make someone's day, and in turn those people help and benefit others."<br /><br /> At a May 5 gala celebrating Berkeley Hillel and its achievements, hundreds of community members poured into the main room where photo displays showcased Doing Good Will projects. Between two easels sat a slumped-over and newly stuffed giant panda. For Hogan, the stuffed animal was the end result of an enormous undertaking.<br /><br /> Hogan used her $180 to charter a bus for children living at Harrison House and McKinley House, East Bay emergency shelters operated by the Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) program.<br /><br /> Together with parents and volunteers, the youngsters went to a Build-A-Bear Workshop factory in San Francisco, where children custom stuffed and dressed their own teddy bears.<br /><br /> "When I was 3, I wished for toys," said Hogan. "But these kids have basic needs that aren't being met, and there are things that, as a result, they didn't even know they should wish for. I wanted to give them teddy bears."<br /><br /> To get her project rolling, Hogan spent a significant portion of her original money to send informational packets and solicitations out to 80 people. Nearly 30 responded with donations.<br /><br /> With the $300 Build-A-Bear donated to her project, Hogan turned $180 into $1,200 in less than two months, ensuring that more kids would be able to participate in additional trips this summer.<br /><br /> "It surpassed my own expectations," Hogan said. "This whole thing just developed into a lot more than we thought it would be."</p> <p> </p>

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