Thirty-four participants of the Mitzvah Challenge program, a teen tzedekah project of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, allocated $10,074 to six different agencies last week.

Mitzvah Challenge participants of 2003-2004 contributed a minimum of $100 of their B'nai Mitzvah gifts to a special fund established at the Jewish Federation

On Thursday night, June 3, 24 participants came together under the guidance of Dianne Rosenberg, facilitator, and under the leadership of Ellyn Guttman and Amanda Cohen, teen advisors, to review and discuss the 18 grant requests received from various Cincinnati community, local Jewish community and Israeli agencies and organizations.

The teens decided to allocate $1500 to American Red Magen David for Israel for the purchase of donor beds,  $1680 to Jewish Family Service for providing baby welcome bags in order to ease the way for newborn infants either with their birth or adoptive families, $1044 to youth programming at the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, and $1300 to the Israeli Guide Dog Center for the Blind, a non-profit organization aimed to improve the quality of the life of blind people by providing them with safe mobility and independence through the faithful assistance of the guide dogs. Their donations to these Jewish agencies will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous grant from the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati.

The teens gave $950 to the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati to create bookmarks that will be distributed to area elementary schools as part of the Everybody Counts program. They also gave $1800 to the Measles Initiative in order to vaccinate and control measles deaths in Africa, and another $1800 to the Kids Café a program of the Free Store/ Food Bank where each week hundreds of inner city children are served a healthy evening meal and offered a safe haven for children living in high crime neighborhoods.

"The teens engaged in a thoughtful discussion that helped them determine which programs merited funding.  This experience provided an opportunity for the teen philanthropists to learn about the various agencies and their services. It also gave them a rich experience by teaching them the values of Tikkun Olam," says Dianne Rosenberg, facilitator of the program.

For more information about participating in or donating to the Mitzvah Challenge Teen Tzedakah project of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati contact Lindsey Kreindler at the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, 985-1522 or lkreindler@jfedcin.org.