Jack Ginsberg, a student at Paul Revere Charter Middle School and Magnet Center, raised $3,500 collecting coins in jars to help buy sporting equipment at Vista Del Mar, a social service agency that offers community programs for children and families, including foster care and psychiatric residential treatment.
Ginsberg first raised $500 for Vista Del Mar as his bar mitzvah project last summer, which took place at the Reform Leo Baeck Temple.
When his current school year started, he wanted to continue helping the agency.
“I kind of slacked off during the bar mitzvah project,” Ginsberg said. “I was upset about that, and I wanted to do something to help out my community more.”
Ginsberg sought approval from school administrators and teachers to put a collection bottle placed in each of the 88 classrooms at his school, and the student council member routinely made announcements on the school’s PA system to spread the word about his efforts.
Vista Del Mar’s annual budget — an estimated $36.5 million, according to Linda Karchem, director of volunteer programs — comes mainly from state and federal agencies, including the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Children and Family Services. Karchem expressed gratitude for the gift and said Vista Del Mar had already used some of the funds to buy basketballs for the center’s residential program, which provides 48 beds for children ages 12 to 18 with emotional and psychological issues. The rest of the money will go to other sporting goods, she said.
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