Feb 1st, 00:00

Do you ever wonder what your children will remember years from now when they think back on their childhoods? As the director of our Religious School, I wonder what your children will remember as memorable experiences from their Jewish education when they come back as adults. On Saturday, January 23, our students participated in a 3.5 mile walkathon to benefit Project Legacy as well as Soles for Souls, an organization that recycles worn rubber-soled shoes. For each pair of shoes and for each $5.00 in sponsorships, the children earned one raffle ticket for prizes at the end of the morning. Our grand prize was a $50.00 gift certificate to the Enchanted Toy Store, owned by TBT members Jeff & Stephanie Oslick. Thanks, Jeff & Stephanie, for your generosity! I enlisted the help of our own Stephanie Katz, a high school senior, to help me organize and run the event. She brought in her close friend Rebecca Liron, and we had several parents to help put things all together. The only great unknown was … the weather! God was definitely on our side as the morning of our walkathon arrived. It was chilly outside, but the rain was nowhere to be seen. We did decide to shift our activities after the walk from Acacia Park to TBT, which meant the last leg of our walk was UPHILL. But not one person kvetched, and in fact, several children asked if we could do a walkathon again next year! I had arranged three homes of TBT members (with snacks) at which we would stop on our walk. The first was just two blocks south of the Temple and west on Miramar. The children walked, sang with our songleader Mikey (who shlepped his guitar), and laughed on our way. Valerie Sloane came out of her house on Miramar to cheer us on (and to give us a sponsorship check as well!). We arrived at the home of third grader Max Levine for our first snack/bathroom break. From there we headed back down Acacia to the home of Joseph Golumbic, where we had our usual challah and juice. The challahs were laid out so beautifully on the dining room table with traditional challah covers for us to celebrate Shabbat! From there we continued down Acacia to the home of Lisa & Tom Barbarick, where the children were greeted with lollipops to keep them happy as we walked back UP Acacia. Upon our arrival back at the Temple, a raffle was held with many of the children winning prizes. Approximately 200 pairs of shoes lined our hall across from the office! $1,200.00 was raised in sponsorships! The kids REALLY got into this project! We ended the morning with a pizza lunch, and TBT’s Religious School children went home with wide smiles on their faces. We all look forward to seeing the plaque on the wall of our new school building in the near future that will read as follows: TBT RELIGIOUS SCHOOL WALK FOR PROJECT LEGACY JANUARY 23, 2010 Y 8 SHEVAT 5770 Jewish education doesn’t only happen in our classrooms – and our walkathon will be one of those educational experiences that will hopefully be remembered by our children as they grow up and return one day with their own children. I know I will remember it as one of the highlights of our Religious School!