Believe in yourself and you can do anything. Kids hear this all the time and a small group of 15 year olds recently took it to heart. These motivated teens raised $25,000 for the Sephardic Food Fund.
Their goal was to raise more than they did last year. They began working on their event last winter. First they sold SFF bracelets in all the yeshivot, and solicited sponsors for their Chinese Auction. Then, they held a great summer event, which included a scavenger hunt, a fantastic Chinese Auction and bake sale, and a split the pot raffle.
These extremely motivated teens chose the Sephardic Food Fund because of the work the SFF does, feeding the hungry.
“Nobody in our community should ever go hungry,” said Leo Sorcher, the event leader. “We wanted to create and plan a hesed event in memory of Eddie Kassin AH”.
“My friends Alison Kassin and Gayle Sasson helped me get the ball rolling during the winter and into the spring. We got the job done, balancing our school work and working on the event whenever we had time. Once school ended and we moved to Deal, more great people pitched in to make the events a huge success,” Leo continued. “Those people were David Kassin, Elaine K Serouya, Elaine S Seruya, Abie Serouya and Jaqueline Shabot.”
For six months they planned their fundraiser, making sure that every detail was considered and no stone was left unturned?
Leo proudly credits his family, and the families of all his teammates, who encouraged them, stood by them, and helped them work through the mountain of details that needed to be figured out in order for their endeavor to succeed.
“Our parents had a great influence on us. They supported us and helped us. My mom and dad were great hosts for the Chinese Auction and bake sale. I’m already wondering how I’m going to get them to do it again next year,” Leo said with a smile.
Our goal for next year is to plan and run an exciting event that will raise even more money for the SFF.
The Sephardic Food Fund was very proud of the teens. Their incredible effort will allow them to feed dozens of families.
