CHUSY: TkO Night
We all know that TKO stands for a technical knock out in boxing. Our TkO was a little bit different. It was a night of learning different kickboxing moves and collecting Tikun Olam for each move we mastered. Before the program, we sent out sponsor sheets to all of our members, asking them to come to the program with sponsors for the number of kicks, punches, and blocks that they would do during the program. Our very own chapter president and youth director taught us different moves and then we would practice different combinations. Throughout the night, one of our staff members counted each kick, punch, and block that we performed. We totaled about 175 kicks, 150 punches, and 100 blocks. After the program we had a week to collect the money from our sponsors. Not only did we raise over $470 for Tikun Olam from the program, but we also got a great workout.

CRUSY: BGUSY Candle Delivery
Our congregation does not expect a Santa Claus to be dropping off presents around Chanukah time. Instead, they look forward to the BGUSY kids dropping by to spend some time wishing them a Chanukah Sameach and giving them a box of candles for the holiday. We spend a lot of time preparing a nice poem, gift wrapping hundreds of boxes of Chanukah candles, and personally dropping them off to each and every member in our synagogue. We like to do this so that everybody has an opportunity to have a wonderful holiday, spend some time with nice, familiar faces, and relax a little bit about all of the things they need to get. Through this activity BGUSY tries to make our congregants holidays a little bit less stressful and a little bit more special. In addition to making our members feel special, we ask them to support us in donations that we put together as our largest source of donations to the CRUSY Tikkun Olam special project.

Hagalil
Caldwell USY has many exciting Tikun Olam programs throughout the year, but this year, was the best ever! We held a "Jeans for SA/TO Sale." A local clothing store provided designer jeans at their cost ($40) and we sold them for $50. These were jeans that normally sell at department stores for $100-$200, so kids and parents were lined up out the door to get their hands on a pair. We made $2,300, which was then put into the SA/TO fund.

Hagesher
We were going to pick our Backpack Collection Day (where we sorted 900 backpacks to be sent to Hurricane Katrina victims) as our strongest TO program, but after careful consideration we decided that our most successful Tikkun Olam event was our 2nd Annual Fun-A-Thon, involving and encouraging the entire community to raise money and do social action simultaneously. Taking place on Martin Luther King's Day of Service, the Fun-A-Thon, a HZTUSY-organized carnival for the younger members of our synagogue, allowed many people to enjoy themselves at one of the many activities that we sponsored that day. Whether you were making spin art, getting your face painted, decorating Tu B'shvat bags, making key chains or doing DDR, you were guaranteed a good time at HZTUSY's Fun-A-Thon! The biggest attraction was the moon bounce, which always had a line all the way to the front of the carnival. Both parents and congregants came to donate money for Tikkun Olam and our Phone-A-Thon, held the night before, made it easy for us to ask for donations and remind everyone about our Fun-A-Thon. Overall, the combined Phone & Fun-A-Thon was our most successful event for raising Tikkun Olam money and bettering the world.

Hanefesh: TGIP (Thank G-d It's Purim)
On Saturday night, March 3, Emanuel USYers gathered in the main sanctuary to listen to the reading of the Megillah. In between the fifth and sixth reading USY did a tikun olam program to collect SA/TO money. We put on a short skit in which we commandeered the traffic light which signals the congregation when to make noise for Haman's name and when to be quiet. Haman, played by Mike Kaplan, snuck onto the Bimah and "broke" the street light before running away. Jenna Israel and Jeremy Henowitz then approached the Bimah explaining what Haman had just done. They told the congregation that there most likely was not much time before it turned to green and became stuck there. David Kurtis played an electrician who was top-of-the-line and quite pricey. The congregation was then asked to help pay for the traffic light to be fixed, with all proceeds going to USY's Tikun Olam program. As USYers walked the aisles asking for donations, Jenna Israel stood on the Bimah encouraging the Congregation to donate money to SA/TO. In the end the traffic light was fixed and we thanked the congregation before we went to count our $761 raised.

Hanegev
Our largest Tikun Olam donation came from Sababa USY's Purim Carnival. The USYers get on the phone soliciting donations from the congregants. They also travel to businesses to get donations of prizes for our raffle. The USYers planned and worked the entire event with the exception of the kitchen. We had expected approximately 200 to attend our carnival, but wound up with over 400 in attendance. We had game booths, food, rock climber, pie throwing, Tumble Bus, magicians (that were USYers) roaming around, a balloon animal maker roaming and a lot more! After costs, the USYers raised over $4,500! 20% of their profits went to Tikun Olam.

METNY
As part of our hand-on approach to repairing the world, Bet Torah USY took part in an exciting two-part program to learn more about the earth and how to care for it. First the USYers attended a special screening where they watched "An Inconvenient Truth". Following the film, Bet Torah USY participated in a special panel discussion about global warming and going green. The panel included teenagers, experts, religious leaders and parents. The following weekend, the USYers traveled to a local park on the Hudson River, where they met with experts who taught they about the future of the river's shoreline and what they could do to protect it. After the speakers, the USYers assisted the experts and park rangers in cleaning up the shoreline by picking up trash and removing debris from recent storms.

NERUSY: Casino Night
Our Inter-chapter event is our main source of Tikun Olam funds during the year. We charge $10 per USYer, and try to keep the cost as low as possible. We also sold puppy-grams for the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind. We wanted USYers to have SA/TO activities at Casino Night other than playing cards and roulette. At Casino Night, USYers could sign letters to Gov. Patrick concerning helping the situation in Darfur, Sudan. This gave kids an easy opportunity to make their voices heard. Another table at Casino Night featured hundreds of boxes of colored pencils, all the same color per box. USYers sorted the colors and put a variety of pencils in each box so that individual students could use them. We'll be bringing these pencils, and sorted markers to Cradles to Crayons to donate.

New Frontier: Ransom the Rabbi
Our Kidnap the Rabbi event was a SA/TO fundraiser that took place on Purim eve. We showed a video we created of USYers "kidnapping the Rabbi" - in other words, "forcing" him into a Hawaiian shirt with a martini glass on the synagogue lawn – and asked for a "ransom" to be used "possibly for good if paid promptly." This event hugely succeeded for several reasons. First, it offered our USY chapter a chance to connect with our community and show the congregation what their youth group could do. (By all accounts, we certainly took advantage of the opportunity – everyone said they loved the skit, as our fundraising total reflects.) Second, many USYers from our chapter contributed in one way or another, and we all had a lot of fun putting on the event and hanging out together. Third, we raised an extremely large sum of money for just one event – the "kidnappers" collected approximately $600! As an added bonus, it provided an opportunity for us to pray together as a chapter, as several of us stayed afterwards for services with the congregation and hear the Megillah read.

Pinwheel
The best Tikkun Olam program that we were able to accomplish this year was our amazing "Tikkun Olam Telethon." In one single night, six of our kids were able to raise a total of $3,000 and around $500 worth of donated goods. After making phone call after phone call, our USYers were able to create a wall of donations with the names of all the donors and companies that donated either goods, time or money for our Tikkun Olam fundraiser. This was very rewarding to know that six kids could make such a difference as well as the warmth and generosity of all the donors.

Tzafon
Our best Tikun Olam program this year was the Spaghetti Dinner. At the board meeting before this event, we established the menu and created a shopping list and decided we would all wear red. A day or two before the dinner a few USYers got together and went to local grocery shops to get food for this event. We had written letters to some of them about the program and its purpose, and some of the food was donated. Before the start of the dinner, all the USYers attended the minyan. The dinner consisted of spaghetti, three types of sauces, garlic bread, salad, brownies, and beverages, all of which the USYers prepared themselves in the kitchen with the help of some parents. After the meal was served we gathered around the piano and entertained the crowd with show tunes and other popular songs. People clapped along and some even sang with us. It was great night full of fun for members of the congregation and members of USY. We raised $512.30 at this event for Tikun Olam.

Seaboard
The CD Auction lounge night was our best Tikun Olam project. For the second year in a row, we have asked USYers to come with home made CD mixes that can be auctioned off, with money going towards Tikun Olam. We present each CD separately, listening to select songs, and giving the presenter a chance to talk about the selections on the CD. Then, bids are made, and the winner walked home with some new groovy tunes!

SWUSY: Spaghetti Dinner
Spaghetti Dinner is AAUSY's annual fundraiser. Each board member, as well as many generous families throughout our synagogue, donated items for our giant silent auction. After a night of auctioning and eating, AAUSY was able to provide more scholarships to conventions!

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