What Does Better Look Like?

Naomi Brown — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:16:25 +0000

Based off of the hit TV show 'Shark Tank,' this program gives campers the opportunity to champion an Israeli social cause. Campers will work together to choose a cause that they feel passionately about and compete through presentations for a 'grand prize.'

Curriculum Themes:

The Pioneering Spirit

Materials Required:

Arts & Crafts Material

Program Duration:

1 hour

Number of Campers:

A Bunk/Cabin/Chug (10-20 campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Jewish Heart for Africa, Kishorit, The Good Energy Initiative, and Leket Israel are four examples of social justice organizations that were created in Israel.

Social entrepreneurs recognize social problems and attempt to create social change through entrepreneurial principles, such as team-building and innovation.

Explanation:

Shark Tank Activity Introduction:

Split campers into groups.
Introduce the Shark Tank TV Show. Ask if anyone has seen the show. Describe the show:

Shark Tank is a hit ABC TV show that features a panel of five wealthy investors called "sharks" who consider offers from entrepreneurs seeking investors for their business. The entrepreneurs make pitches to the investors for their business or product to try to convince the wealthy investor to give them the funding they need to start their business idea.

Explain to campers that you are going to play Shark Tank. The campers are going to be the entrepreneurs championing a cause and the rest of the campers will be the wealthy investors.
Each group of teens will choose an Israeli cause (see the list below) to create a pitch for. It's best to print a sheet with a description of each of these organizations and a few pictures so that campers have it front of them and can see a visual image of each cause.

Jewish Heart for Africa - A non-profit organization that brings sustainable Israeli technologies to African villages. JHA's mission is to save African lives with Israeli innovation. Founded in 2008, JHA has provided light, clean water, food, and proper medical care to more than 150,000 people in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Uganda.
Leket Israel - One quarter of the population in Israel is food insecure. Leket is the country's largest national food bank and leading food rescue network. Leket rescues over 700,000 meals and 21 million lbs of produce and perishable goods. Food, that would have otherwise gone to waste, is redistributed to nearly 300 nonprofit partners caring for the needy.
The Good Energy Initiative - This non-profit provides carbon offset in Israel. For every car that drives, every plane that flies, and every appliance that gets plugged into the wall, a price is paid by the environment. Through donations, GEI lets people neutralize their carbon footprint by funneling cash investments into local grassroots educational and social projects.
Kishorit - An innovative new model for treating the mentally disabled in Israel. This village in northern Israel has become a utopia for about 150 people with varying degrees of mental handicap, who have all found home for life.

Creating the Shark Tank Campaign:

Each group of teens creates a campaign on why the cause they chose is so important and why they need the $10,000 grand prize. Presentations consist of a visual sign and a 1-2 minute pitch or skit.
Key areas to consider:

Why is your cause innovative?
How is it creating widespread change?
Why is it urgent to support this cause?

Shark Tank Presentations:

Each pair of teens presents their campaign to their group. Teens vote on the campaign they like best (they can't vote for their own).
Votes are counted and the winning pair is announced. The winners could receive a small prize such as a NU Campaign T-shirt.

Supporting Materials:

List of Causes (2).pdf

Curricular Subjects:

NU Campaign: Israel Impacts the World

Carl Schrag — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:37:05 +0000

Through the NU Campaign t-shirts, campers will learn about the important work of several Israeli social action organizations. By exploring the stories of Israeli non-profits, such as Leket Israel, Save a Child's Heart, and Jewish Hearts for Africa, campers will reflect on Israel's impact throughout the world and personally connect with some of Israel's causes.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Number of Campers:

A Bunk/Cabin/Chug (10-20 campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Social justice organizations created within Israel bring aid to people both inside and outside of the country.

Numerous Israeli nonprofits are created in response to harsh realities and attempt to bring health and peace to different populations in need.

Spreading awareness of the problems and of these organizations can help create positive change.

Explanation:

Describe the NU Campaign. Details can be found here.
Discuss four of the t-shirts that highlight social justice causes. For example:

Save a Child’s Heart

A little girl named Katya, who was four years old came to Israel from Moldova with heart defects. Save a Child’s Heart is an Israeli-based international humanitarian organization whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric care.

Dream Doctors

Integrates professional medical clowning into the medical services provided at Israeli hospitals.

Jewish Heart For Africa

A nonprofit that brings sustainable Israeli technologies to rural African villages. It operates in Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia and has touched 2,000,000 African people, bringing energy, medical clinics, medicines, and vaccines.

Leket Israel

One quarter of the population in Israel is food insecure. Leket Israel is the country’s largest national food bank and leading food rescue network that is dedicated to eliminating hunger in Israel’s needy regardless of religion or ethnic background.

3. Pass around t-shirts so participants fully understand the impact of what appears on the shirts, and what is printed inside.

4. Break into pairs or small groups and choose one of the following organizations:

Park Chaverim– Friendship Park for the disabled

Located outside of Tel Aviv, this 9 acre park was the first accessible park for handicapped children in Israel. The park offers play equipment for children in wheelchairs and with hearing and vision impairments. It includes paths, swings, and carousels that can accommodate a wheelchair. In addition, accommodations were even made for motor-disabled parents or grandparents accompanying able-bodied children at the park. This park served as a model for newer ones throughout Israel and the world. Volunteers help facilitate everyday interactions and assure kids with disabilities get first priority on the equipment, which is popular with all children.

ILAN

As Israel’s oldest and largest voluntary organization, ILAN works to improve the quality of life for people with neuromuscular disabilities. ILAN sponsors the Israel Sport Center for the Disabled where participants play table tennis without hands, folk dance in a wheel chair, earn a degree in cinema despite cerebral palsy, or befriend an able-bodied peer at summer camp. ILAN’s summer camp pairs disabled children with teen volunteers and trains the teen volunteers to do the intensive tasks normally left to parents such as dressing and feeding their campers. Many of the campers and teens develop strong friendships and are maintained in following summers.

Neveh Shalom’s School for Peace

Located in the village of Neve Shalom, halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, this village houses 50 Jewish and Arab families. The School of Peace works to develop a more just and peaceful relationship between Arabs and Jews by developing participants’ awareness of the conflict and their role in it and constructing their identity through interactions with each other. Through intensive courses, the School for Peace helps Israeli and Arab Palestinian professionals find out how they can be strong voices for peace, whether they are journalists, lawyers, or architects.

The Decade Group

This company specializes in finding creative education solutions and has developed the “Young Engineers” program that teaches children math, physics, and engineering using LEGO and Kid K’nex. The main goal of the programs is to demonstrate the theoretical studies using stories, examples and building models that powerfully illustrate the theoretic topics. Most of their activities take place in an extracurricular setting in schools and community centers.

5. Pretend you work for the NU Campaign and your goal is to create a t-shirt that allows people to be social advocates for one of these organizations. You can either design the front or write/make-up the story that goes in the inside.

6. When the group comes back together, everyone presents their design and concept.

Variations:

These activities can conclude with a competition or contest, in which the winners get to keep the shirts.
These activities can continue with an arts and crafts project in which campers make their own shirts with messages.
Presenting the shirts can be paired with other activities, such as "What Does Better Look Like?", after groups explore four of these social justice organizations.
Incorporate this activity into Staff Week. The GE and others can use it to introduce the way Israel is being integrated into camp, and after pursuing one of the options described above, staff can work in small groups (by cabin, unit, or specialty area) to design their own shirt with a storytelling, eye-grabbing image on the outside and a narrative story on the inside. If all staff are wearing these shirts on the first day of the session, campers are sure to notice - and great conversations can ensue.

The Goodman Initiative - Social Justice in Israel

What Does Better Look Like?

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Explanation:

Supporting Materials:

Curricular Subjects:

NU Campaign: Israel Impacts the World

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Explanation:

Variations:

Supporting Images:

Curricular Subjects: