Philanthropists inspire OJCYF teens at Youth Funders Conference

By Deborah Moon Seldner

Nine members of the Oregon Jewish Community Youth Foundation board were among more than 100 Jewish teens from 13 states and the District of Columbia who had their eyes opened to the possibilities of philanthropy at the first-ever National Jewish Youth Funders Conference held in Denver March 31-April 3.
Several members of the Oregon contingent called the conference an eye-opener, including Wilsonville High School 10th-grader Anne Kitzmiller, who said, "It showed us what we have the power to do someday. ? It was an eye opener to see the huge changes people are making on a national level."
Blake Morell, a freshman at Catlin Gabel School said, "It opened my eyes to what's out there and the speakers really empowered us to do more."
In a press release from conference organizers, conference co-chair K'vod Wieder of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation said there are now more than 51 Jewish teen philanthropy groups in North America and that number continues to grow.?
"In the past seven years, more than 3,000 Jewish teens have joined forces, providing more than $1.5 million in funds for a variety of worthwhile projects in North America and in Israel," said Wieder.? "This trend to give Jewishly is proving that teens do care about the future.? They are using their creativity to develop innovative programs that provide real benefits to not only the Jewish community, but to others in need in the United States and in Israel."
The conference included representatives from 35 of those Jewish youth philanthropy programs from across North America. On April 2, the youth philanthropists also enjoyed a day of joint programming with the Jewish Funders Network 2006 International Conference.
Meeting major adult philanthropists was a highlight mentioned by several of the Oregon teens.
"We met a lot of philanthropists," said Julia Weiss, who founded OJCYF three years ago as a bat mitzvah project. "Most of them had a lot of money, but some were not the wealthiest but they found ways to give to help the world."
"It was a real eye-opener to be around a lot of people who have a lot of money but are willing to give a lot of it away to better the world," she added.
Weiss said she was particularly impressed by Harold Grinspoon, whose foundation sponsored the conference. She said rather than take credit for the conference, he praised the teens and said they