Another incredible year of CTeen capped off with delicious burgers & BBQ! It was a beautiful night of games (even though Adam won the CTeen trivia quiz, so it *must* have been rigged!), stories, gifts, and goodbyes as we bid farewell to a big class of graduating seniors. Thank you to the O'Desky family for hosting. Max, Shani, Lina, Ev, Julianna, Ross, Eliana, Noah, Tristan, Eitan, Oscar, Maya, Matan, Eli, Elimelech, and Josh - we'll miss you next year!
"Purim at the Stadium" was the theme of this year's CTeen Purim Party, and it definitely was a winner! Friends from Nicolet, Homestead, USM, and Shorewood showed up for a high-speed Megilla read, a huge 'tailgate' spread, and awesome games and music.
During the week of Purim, we delivered over 70 shalach manos kits - put together by our fabulous interns Elisheva and Kayla - to some of our local supporters. We had driving teams with customized Google route maps for maximum efficiency!
CTeen Shabbaton was honestly one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had as a Jewish teen. Not only was New York City unlike anything I’ve seen before, but the culture made it especially memorable. And don’t even get me started on Rabbi Avremi— even on the brink of a snowstorm, with the risk of flights being canceled, he stayed calm, cool, and collected. He created some of the most unforgettable moments of the trip and truly gave it its spark. In the end, CTeen Shabbaton reminded me how special it is to be part of such an amazing community.
On Saturday night, December 13, one night before Chanukah started, CTeen jammed over 100 teens, parents, alumni, and friends into Brown Deer Lanes for our first annual Chanukah Bowl-a-Thon fundraiser. The event included a beautiful Havdalah sung by Levi Schapiro, a delicious smoked brisket sandwich buffet catered by Shaindy Schapiro, and an epic contest with prizes like Milwaukee Admirals tickets!
The biggest win was that the event raised over $50,000 for CTeen programs like our Sukkah lunches, upcoming Purim party and shalach manos deliveries, scholarships for the NYC Shabbaton in February and much more! We're so grateful to our supporters for showing up and showing out!
To celebrate Sukkot, we came together at C-Teen to build a sukkah with our friends and create a space we could all enjoy throughout the week. After working together to put it up, the sukkah became a place where we shared amazing meals, spent time talking and laughing, and really experienced the holiday in a meaningful way. Eating together in the sukkah and being surrounded by friends made Sukkot at C-Teen a fun and memorable experience for everyone who came.
To commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the terrible attacks on Israel on 10/7/2023 and pray for the hostages' return, we gathered at the Teen House to say some prayers for the victims and the hostages, read names, and invited a guest speaker, Benji Rosenzweig, to talk to us about how to navigate online conversations about Israel, antisemitism, and being Jewish in general. Benji runs Storied, a podcast about the not-so-well known Jews who have been influential in the music industry. Check him out on Instagram @BenjiRosenzweig, or his podcast, @storiedshow.
