Ma’ayanot mentors line up to help kids with homework. Courtesy Ma’ayanot

Homework help is on the way for local day-school students who want to boost their grades.

This boon to area parents has arrived thanks to the Pay It Forward Club, launched in October by Ma’ayanot High School students.

The club, which meets every Wednesday in the Teaneck-based high school, provides free tutoring to elementary and middle school yeshiva students. The program pairs the youngsters with “big sisters” from Ma’ayanot who guide them through the rigors of homework, studying, and tests.

The Pay It Forward Club, which has drawn 50 participants from local day schools and 50 mentors from ninth through 12th grades at the Orthodox girls high school, takes its name from the notion that young people should contribute to their community and inspire others to perform good deeds.

Ariella Steinreich, Ma’ayanot’s community service coordinator, said she was moved to create the program to provide an opportunity for the teenagers to perform a needed community service and aid parents during turbulent economic times when many can’t afford tutors.

The program has already received rave reviews from participants, who say the mentors make learning more exciting. Several parents noted that doing homework with their own children can often stress their relationship, and a program such as this one eases that burden.

Aviva Allen of Englewood said the program has been a wonderful experience for her two daughters, who have built a close relationship with their mentors. “My girls look forward to doing their homework on Wednesdays in Ma’ayanot,” she said. “The program has given them a sense of independence and the individualized attention has helped build their self-confidence.”

Steinreich said the Ma’ayanot students take their task seriously and often prepare hands-on learning techniques to teach everything from math and science formulas to Chumash (Bible) and Navi (Prophets). In a recent session, one mentor used ketchup packets to illustrate a math principle to her grade-school student, while another outlined a perek of chumash to help a middle-schooler, Steinreich recalled.

Because the pairs work one-on-one, the younger students form a connection with their mentors and are able to learn at their own pace. “The individualized attention lets these kids succeed and gives them a greater sense of confidence in their subjects,” said Steinreich.

Students enroll in the program for a variety of reasons; some need the extra help and reinforcement. Many others come because they find it more enjoyable to do homework with a teenager in a high-school setting than at home amid distractions of siblings and television.

Aviva Vogel of Teaneck said her third-grade daughter looks forward to Wednesdays because of the program. “She is paired up with a positive role model who makes learning fun,” Vogel said.

Mentors say that they have gained just as much from the experience as their mentees.

Molly Levi, a ninth-grader at Ma’ayanot who volunteers as a tutor, said, “I enjoy helping out other kids; it is so cool to see their progress each week.”

Chava Danishefsky, an 11th-grade mentor, said that she can see the positive results of her work almost immediately. “I enjoy working on homework with her and seeing her succeed in mastering these skills,” she said about her student. “Every Wednesday, I leave knowing that I helped someone.”

For more information, e-mail Steinreich at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call her at (201) 833-4307, ext. 233.

A team from Ma’ayanot High School spent five days helping flood victims in Minnesota. Top row, from left, Miriam Apter, Julie Schwartz, Ilana Weinberger, Emily Blumenfeld, Chani Dubin, Racheli Weil, Daniella Steinreich, Daniella Meyer, Eileen Schwartz, and Chani Colton. Bottom, from left, Rebecca Lipschitz, Natali Moyal, Gali Sadek, Molly Brodsky, and local residents. courtesy ma’ayanot

Seeing physical devastation up close is painful — but helping the victims of disaster rebuild their lives is rewarding, say 12 Ma’ayanot students who recently returned from Minnestota.

The girls, 10th- and 11th-graders at the Teaneck high school, spent five days helping flood victims in Oronoco Park. The city, severely damaged in October by overflow from the Zumbro, a tributary of the Mississippi River, has yet to recover.

“I was surprised when we got there because the flood happened in October and there are still so many people left on their own to finish [salvaging] their own houses. It’s sad,” said Daniella Steinreich, a sophomore who participated in the cleanup. “The other organizations have all gone home.”

“You learn to appreciate your house and everything you have,” said junior Daniella Meyer, who spoke with people there who had lost all their belongings. “And to appreciate where you live,” added Emily Blumenfeld, another junior, who said she’s happy not to live in a flood zone.

Ariella Steinreich, Ma’ayanot’s community service coordinator, said the girls participated in the mission under the auspices of NCSY, the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union. For the past two years, New Jersey NCSY has taken all-boys’ and coed groups to sites of natural disasters, such as New Orleans and Galveston, Texas, or they have done urban renewal work in places such as Buffalo.

“But this is the first NCSY all-girls team sent to assist in relief work,” said Steinreich.

“Each student was selected based upon her own merits,” said Rabbi Ethan Katz, New Jersey NCSY associate regional director, before the girls left for Minnesota. “This is not a class field trip,” he added, noting that the girls would be given meaningful work, “often demanding, and open to schedule changes due to what is deemed most beneficial for the communities in need. It is a disaster relief mission — a chesed mission.”

For this trip, the Orthodox group worked with Nechama: The Jewish Response to Disaster, a Minnesota-based organization that provides and coordinates volunteer assistance to communities in need.

Accompanying the students were Katz, NCSY chapter advisor Miriam Apter, Ma’ayanot Talmud teacher Rabbi Zev Prince, and school athletic director Eileen Schwartz.

While in Minnesota, the girls not only helped repair homes but also participated in the Susan G. Komen for the Cure 5K Walk held on May 8 in Bloomington. On Shabbat, they visited with peers from the local Jewish community.

Sophomore Molly Brodsky said she was most moved by the group’s experience at Mary’s Place, a shelter that houses both adults and children.

“The children ran to us and asked to play games,” she said. “One kid was crying and asked if we could stay for one more game. They weren’t used to seeing teenagers from the outside world.”

Racheli Weil, also a sophomore, was struck by the turnout at the breast cancer walk.

“There were about 50,000 people,” she said. “It was amazing.”

“It meant a lot [to be] representing Jewish women,” Molly added. “There were church organizations there but our group was different, and people noticed. They saw Jewish girls marching and that we really do care.”

“A lot of them hadn’t met Jews before,” said Daniella Steinreich. “It’s important that we got to make a first impression as Jews and show how much we like to help other people.”

Molly said she was impressed by the local Jewish community.

“They’re the nicest people I ever met in my entire life,” she said. “We ate Shabbat dinner and they asked about our lives and said that what we’re doing is great. Everyone said hello. It’s such a close-knit community and so caring.”

“It was beautiful,” said sophomore Ilana Weinberger of the time spent in Minnesota. “We helped other people, but we also helped ourselves as individuals.”

“How many times do you get to go to the middle of nowhere and help people rebuild their lives?” echoed Weil.

“They’ve been home less than 24 hours and their friends are looking up to them as peer role models,” said the school’s community service coordinator on Monday. “They went above and beyond.”

Steinreich said she was grateful for the support Ma’ayanot had given to the project and to NCSY “for giving us this opportunity.”

Ma’ayanot girls are obligated to engage in eight community service projects each year, said Steinreich, explaining that she compiles an annual listing of service opportunities in the students’ hometowns.

“But there’s so much enthusiasm,” she said. “Some girls do between 10 and 20 projects, some between 20 and 35, and some are hitting 50. It’s really nice how the girls really embrace it and look forward to it.”

While the Minnesota trip has been in the works for about two years, Ma’ayanot girls have had many other opportunities to be of service to the community.

“We have a weekly homework club called Pay It Forward,” said Steinreich, noting that some 60 of her students help tutor children from the local elementary school. “We’re so happy to have a program like this, that gives back to the community. We look forward to extending the borders of community service.”

“One of the things the school teaches is that being a good community member is important to the future of Judaism,” she said. “We’re really proud that we’re training future leaders.”

As a community activist and volunteer around Bergen County, Ariella Steinreich often found herself fielding calls from acquaintances and friends seeking ideas for chesed projects. “Chesed,” loosely translated, refers to acts of kindness.

“People would say, ‘I have a kid being bat mitzvahed and you have your pulse on volunteer opportunities. What can she do?’”

As the former community service coordinator of Ma’ayanot High School in Teaneck and a board member of several organizations, including the Jewish Association for the Developmentally Disabled, 22-year-old Steinreich is acutely familiar with the ins and outs of community volunteer work. Last year, she founded the “Pay it Forward” program, which pairs high-schoolers with younger students so they can serve as mentors and help with schoolwork.

The idealist in her, however, wanted to connect more people to volunteer work and, she said, “to bring chesed to the forefront.”

To that end, she created a one-stop resource for area chesed projects and opportunities. The website, called “allchesed.com,” is a clearinghouse for volunteer opportunities geared towards adults and children who want to help others and give back. Allchesed.com provides information about volunteer opportunities at hospitals, schools, and organizations and lists opportunities to help the developmentally disabled, the poor, cancer victims, the blind, and just about anyone else who can use a helping hand.

“The website is a fun and easy way to find new volunteer opportunities within the community, to help volunteers find the leader within themselves,” she said.

“Some people are nervous about going to a hospital, or a nursing home. This makes it simple to find other options,” she said.

The site also contains a Google calendar with daily community chesed events. Steinreich said she already has items to list through March and is hoping for more.

The website brings the user to various categories and is easy for adults and children to navigate, she said, noting that she created it to be as user-friendly as possible.

The site, which is free of charge and does not contain ads, has generated a lot of positive feedback since it was launched recently. Thus far, more than 250 people have used the site, and many have signed up to receive the weekly e-mail containing information about upcoming chesed opportunities, she said.

Teaneck resident Betty Moheban first visited the site when looking for a way to volunteer and came away impressed. “It addresses a prevalent need in the community by uniting those who wish to volunteer,” Moheban said, adding that she found it easy to use. “It offers a wealth of information regarding various volunteer opportunities…and the monthly volunteer calendar is a convenient tool that enables volunteers to clearly view the opportunities that fit into their individual schedules.”

Steinreich said she hopes more organizations will hear about the site and contact her to have their information displayed so that more groups can be included. The site already includes links to various organizations and provides contact information enabling people to become involved with just a mouse click or phone call. The website features opportunities that allow volunteers to step forward at the spur of the moment — such as blood drives, walkathons, or hospital visits — or to become involved in long-term projects that are appropriate for b’nai mitzvah candidates, she said.

The listed organizations come from Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds, including some that are well established and others that are newer.

“This is a one-stop shop with no political allegiances. It’s a launching pad for chesed that bridges the gap. There’s Orthodox, non-affiliated, and non-Jewish groups,” said Steinreich.

“Chesed is one of these things that affects everybody. It’s not as if only a certain group of people need the chesed or need to do the chesed,” she said. Recalling that her parents’ generation “was all about rallying for things such as Soviet Jewry,” she noted that her peers are the volunteer generation and should be exposed to different ways they can contribute to the world.

“Chesed is something that is not based on intellectual ability; everyone can make an impact on their community using their talents. It enables everyone to become a leader,” she said. No matter what your skills, you can find an organization or opportunity where you can have an impact, she said.

One exciting feature is a page that provides ideas for travelers to Israel who are searching for volunteer opportunities there, she said.

Steinreich, who recently started working at a public relations firm, paid for the site herself and does weekly updates to the pages. “It was my way of giving back and doing chesed for my community,” she said. “I’m targeting my own community and hope this concept extends to other communities. I want this to grow.”

For now, however, she is content to get the conversation about chesed flowing.