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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/58801/full/58801/tikkun-olam-in-a-box-brandeis-hillel-kids-club-sets-enterprising-goal-repai/ <br /><br /> <b>Brandeis Hillel kids’ club sets enterprising goal to repair world</b> <br /> Thursday, July 29, 2010 | by amanda pazornik <br /><br /><p>On a chilly Sunday morning in Marin, kids of all ages — armed with gloves and garbage grabbers — combed Muir Beach in search of trash.</p> <p>Though she found plenty of it, 10-year-old Rose Strauss had other things on her mind — namely the otters, seals and other creatures she was helping by ridding the sand of litter.     </p> <p>“I just really love animals and helping the environment,” said Rose, a sixth-grader at Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Rafael, at the July 25 event. “If a bunch of people work together, we can really change it for the better.”</p> <p>Rose is a member of the World Repair Kids club, a group of about 20 students from Brandeis Hillel that performs earth-friendly activities using the World Repair Kit as its guide.</p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 216px;"><img alt="BAkids" class="left" height="318" src="/images/uploads/y_photos_2010/v07_30_10/BAkids.jpg" title="Max Sarosi (left) and Josh Homa run the World Repair Kids pop-up shop to raise money for breast cancer research." width="216" /> <div class="caption">Max Sarosi (left) and Josh Homa run the World Repair Kids pop-up shop to raise money for breast cancer research.</div> </div> The club formed last spring, around the same time as the kit’s launch. Of course there is parental involvement to “sprinkle on the inspiration,” said Lily Kanter, the kit’s creator. To that end, several parents of Brandeis Hillel students (including Kanter) have helped keep the club going through the summer. <p>“Parents weren’t involved at all while the kids were in school,” said Rose’s mother, Jacquie Strauss. “The kids voted on where they would like to put their efforts and decided a beach cleanup was something they wanted to do. The Golden Gate Parks Conservancy was very receptive to us.”</p> <p>A peek inside the World Repair Kit — a kitschy, colorful box made from recycled materials — offers facts, inspiration and tools that empower kids to make the world a better place.</p> <p>More specifically, the kit features details about environmental issues, conservation, endangered species protection and more; hands-on ways to help those in need of food, shelter, clean water, education and health care; ideas for volunteering, planning fundraisers and hosting World Repair parties; and a resource guide connecting users to nonprofits.</p> <p>Nine-year-old Sam Arneson, a fourth-grader at Brandeis Hillel, said his love of nature inspired him to join the World Repair Kids club. So far Sam has sold friendship bracelets he made and plans to participate in an upcoming bake sale to raise money for more club events, such as a plant-a-tree day and a forest cleanup.</p> <p>“If every kid in the United States picked up trash once a month, then our country would be so much cleaner,” said Sam, whose mother, Peddie Arneson, organized the World Repair Kids club. “I want to do something that will make other kids say, ‘Wow, that’s great’ and ‘why don’t I start up a club with my friends.’ ”   </p> <p>World Repair Kids is a project of the Serena & Lily Foundation, which funds youth initiatives around the world. Kanter is co-founder and CEO of Serena & Lily, which allocates a portion of all proceeds from sales of Serena & Lily bedding sets, fabric patterns, furniture, décor and gifts to organizations that advocate for underprivileged and at-risk women and children.</p> <p>The idea for the World Repair Kit stemmed from something Kanter couldn’t find for her family: a kid-friendly product that would give her three sons an overview of societal and world problems.</p> <p>“A lot of books out there focus on a particular issue or they’re academic in their approach,” Kanter said. “I wanted something that would engage the kids in social action.”</p> <p>In an effort to be relevant and give young readers a fun way to soak up serious material, Kanter hit the classrooms of Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Rafael to brainstorm with students on how to make that happen.</p> <p>“This was a really wonderful sweet spot of 7- to 12-year-olds excited about taking on world change,” Kanter said. “Almost all of the ideas came from the kids.” </p> <p>Kanter compiled her notes into a guidebook and shopped it to Chronicle Books last year. The result was what she calls “tikkun olam in a box, marketed to the secular world.”</p> <p>In addition to using the guidebook as a resource, World Repair Kids can pair their 200-page guidebook with the included passport, activity stamps and stickers.</p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="BAkids2" class="left" height="270" src="/images/uploads/y_photos_2010/v07_30_10/BAkids2.jpg" title="Rachel Richman (left) and Ben Simon pick up trash at Muir Beach." width="360" /> <div class="caption">Rachel Richman (left) and Ben Simon pick up trash at Muir Beach.</div> </div> “One of the most powerful things a family can do is travel with their child to a third-world country,” said Kanter, who wants to start a foundation that funds visits to developing nations. The passport in the kit “has the potential of turning into a real-life passport.” <p>In the meantime, the World Repair Kit team is working to launch similar clubs at schools around the country. As for the kits, they are already gaining popularity. This past Earth Day, Anthropologie, a women’s clothing, accessories and home décor shop, sold out of the World Repair Kits at various locations. Roughly 3,500 have been sold so far, and free kits are given to club organizers.</p> <p>“If we can get the word out, then other kids will be inspired,” Sam said. “That’s why I want to help the world.”</p> <p>For information on obtaining a World Repair Kit or starting a World Repair Kids club, contact Beth Rogers-Witte at (415) 331-4194 or <a href="mailto:beth@worldrepairkids.org">beth@worldrepairkids.org</a>.</p> <p> </p>

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