East Hanover Student Devotes Winter Break to Helping New Orleans Needy

Twenty-six New Jersey Jewish students who don't celebrate Christmas themselves travelled to New Orleans during their holiday break to help other people celebrate the season.

Alec Gasin of East Hanover, and Paul and Anna Horowitz, a brother and sister from Englewood, were among the members of Young Judaea, who spent their Alternative Winter Break (AWB) volunteering among the people of New Orlean's Ninth Ward, an area still feeling the impact of Hurricane Katrina's devastation.

For the five days the teens will be in New Orleans, they'll be split into several groups who will rotate among three different project areas, said Andrew Fretwell, the trip leader for AWB.

In one project, Paul and Anna worked with a group called Green Light New Orleans, and went around to people's homes to change inefficient incandescent light bulbs with low impact CFL bulbs, Fretwell said.

Another project has them working with an umbrella group called the Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. There, the students helped a wheelchair-bound resident move furniture and a woman start up a garden in her backyard.

The New Jersey teens have a natural sympathy for the Katrina victims after they saw the impact of Hurricane Sandy on their own hometowns, Fretwell said.

"They went from sympathy to empathy because of the storms. It totally changed their experience," he said.

The students will spend Christmas Eve bringing cheer to local residents at a big holiday party. "They are hosting it. They bring wrapped presents for children. There's games, singing, dancing, arts and crafts," Fretwell said.

This is the fifth year that AWB has spent time in New Orleans. This year, another group of students from Young Judaea is doing similar work in impoverished areas of Los Angeles.

Young Judaea was founded in 1909, a Zionist youth group devoted to social action, Fretwell said. ""We're a 104-year-old start up," he laughed.

Many of the students come back year after year to volunteer with AWB. A lot of work in the New Orleans area is still to be done, Fretwell said.

"They're in the process of rebuilding. They want to do it differently. We're there to help."