You can download the nomination form here and submit it by SUNDAY, January 8, 2012.

The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards honor Jewish teens who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and are actively engaged in projects which embody the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world). Up to five California teens are celebrated annually and each recipient is awarded $36,000 for their college education or to further their work to make our world a better place.

Nominate a teen today, and help us celebrate the power of teens to change the world. Watch this video for more info.

Nominations must be submitted by January 8, 2012 (and those submitted before December 31, 2011 will be entered into a drawing to win a $360 donation to a nonprofit of the nominator’s choice).

The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards are generously funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation.

Nominate a teen today for the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards, which annually honor up to 5 teens who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and are actively engaged in projects which embody the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world). Each recipient is awarded $36,000 for their college education or to further their work to make our world a better place.

Nominations must be submitted by January 6, 2012.*

Help us celebrate the power of teens to change the world by honoring a special teen you know or encouraging a self-nomination. Watch the video below to learn more.

*Nominations submitted before December 31, 2011 will be entered into a drawing to win a $360 donation to a nonprofit of the nominator’s choice.

The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards are generously funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation

If you know any exceptional Jewish teen volunteers in California who are working to solve social problems like poverty, nominate them to win $36,000 that will change their lives and help them expand their work.

Daniel Sobajian (pictured above) won a 2011 Tikkun Olam Award for his school supply project. Upon transferring to public school, Daniel learned that a shocking number of his classmates lived below the poverty line and were unable to afford essential school supplies. He was moved to support his peers and ensure a good education was within their reach. Daniel has held over 20 supply drives all over Los Angeles and delivered the materials to over 1,000 students.

Ensuring equal opportunities for their peers is important to teens, and almost one in five of the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award nominees last year worked on projects combating poverty. Other outstanding teens recognized with a nomination last year organized projects such as raising money to support Haitian school children with supplies after the devastating 2010 earthquake, developing youth chapters of established organizations to engage other teens in fighting poverty, and raising funds to enable regular donations to a local food pantry.

Nominations are now open for the 2012 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards. We are calling on you to help us celebrate the power of teens to change the world. Nominations may be submitted through January 6, 2012.

Casey Robbins (pictured above) received a 2011 Tikkun Olam Award for her work in securing and donating more than 10,000 textbooks to Liberian schools. After hearing on the radio about the lasting devastation caused by the country’s decade-long civil war, Casey contacted Liberia’s Deputy Minister of Information to find out how she could help. She quickly learned that their education system was in dire straits; Casey made it her mission to send unused textbooks from her school district directly to Liberia. Today she has been able to ship thousands of books in four large shipments – a not-so-easy task she nailed down through research and perseverance.

Education is a way that teens feel they can have a big impact, and almost one in three of the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award nominees last year worked on projects impacting the world of learning. Other incredible teens recognized with a nomination last year spearheaded projects such as coordinating bilingual and English-language tutoring, providing students with computers and computer literacy training, and organizing cause-oriented school clubs.

Nominations are now open for the 2012 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards. We are calling on you to help us celebrate the power of teens to change the world. Nominations may be submitted through January 6, 2012.

Fred Scarf, above, received a Tikkun Olam Award in 2008 for his project organizing proms for teens with life threatening diseases—who might not make it to their own proms. Fred’s organization, No Worries Now, is still going strong and is working on its 6^th prom. The organization is also expanding, pairing teen volunteers with individual patients for monthly outings, creating the tools and resources for other teens to throw proms, and working with Cal Cord Blood to promote life-saving public umbilical cord blood banking.

Last year, almost 20 percent of the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award nominees worked on projects impacting disease prevention and care for the sick! Outstanding teens recognized with a nomination last year organized projects such as donating teddy bears and dvds to pediatric wards, raising the money to buy dozens of pediatric wheelchairs for Iraqi children, and organizing a school health fair to teach peers about heart health.

Nominations are now open for the 2012 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards. We are calling on you to help us celebrate the power of teens to change the world. Nominations may be submitted through January 6, 2012.

Over the past five years, the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards have celebrated 25 community service leaders from across California for their outstanding volunteer leadership on causes including education, the environment, supporting and engaging their peers and helping refugees of genocide.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
Watch past recipients talk about what the Award has meant to them.

Nominations are now open for the 2012 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards. We are calling on you to help us celebrate the power of teens to change the world. Nominations may be submitted through January 6, 2012.

Yifat Ovadya, founder of Olim B'yachad

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Israel, which as always, was exciting and inspirational. I wanted to share with you a very moving experience we had visiting Olim B’yachad. Yifat Ovadya, who presented to our group here in San Francisco a few months ago, invited us to see one of the training sessions in Tel Aviv. The Ethiopians in the class were so enthusiastic, fun loving, gracious, bright and motivated.

The instructors and mentors represented everything wonderful about Israel. One mentor was the head of HR at Teva and felt this was the most meaningful thing she’s every done in her life. Teva now employs a significant number of Ethiopians and the program is succeeding in making it ‘cool’ in Israeli corporate culture to hire Ethiopians. We can all be proud to have a part in this program – an immeasurable return on investment.

34 year-old Ethiopian-Israeli Yuval Getahun found a job through Olim B'yachad

A few days later in Rosh Pina our son hosted a ‘reunion’ of his Manhigutisrey group (he was a Diller teen 7 year ago). They have kept up their relationships and many of the families of the Diller Teens have relationships with the families of the Manhigutisrey group. It was a very moving scene and “building bridges” at its best. The Manhigut alumni were very eloquent about what they got out of the program and how they have taken the learned experience of pluralism/diversity and shared it with others as well as incorporated it into their lives.

I am sharing these vignettes because I think sometimes we may lose sight of the success and long-lasting impact of programs like these that our Federation supports.

A few weeks after returning from the three-week Israel Summer Seminar, Diller Teen Fellows are still processing all of the amazing experiences they had over the summer. Two San Francisco teens in particular – Ilana Crankshaw and Arielle Berman -took to the blogosphere to reflect on how the trip changed their lives.

Ilana Crankshaw volunteering at a resource center for at-risk teens in Kiryat Shmoneh, Israel.

Reflections on Israel
Ilana Crankshaw, August 18, 2011

“All the conversations and feedback had such an impact on me. It has truly changed me as a person. The experience taught me so much about who I am as a person and who I have the potential to be. From the visit to an orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem or the discussion of the relevance of the Covenant in our lives today at congress, I questioned my Jewish identity in ways that changed and strengthened my beliefs and practices…

“Thousands of teenagers participate in Jewish programs and trips to Israel every year. But not everyone gets to lead and participate in intense discussions about the American belief of capitalism verses the Kibbutz belief of socialism. To explore the role the army plays in the lives of Israelis and Americans. Not everyone gets to hear first-hand accounts of what it’s like to lose a sibling or child in the army. Not everyone gets the experience of spending a week being hosted by an Israeli teenager, including having Shabbat dinner with all 25 of her relatives. Not everyone gets to spend their summer with 39 amazing teenagers and form friendships that last a lifetime.

But I was lucky enough to have this experience. For this I am forever thankful.”

Micah Fenner (L) and Arielle Berman (R) volunteering to clean up a bomb shelter in Kiryat Shmoneh, Israel.

The Final Hoorah
Arielle Berman, August 18, 2011

“Being asked to share my final thoughts on the Israel Summer Seminar, all I can say is this: I am beyond grateful. Not only did the Israel Summer Seminar, or ISS for short, inspire and influence me to be a better leader and citizen of the world, but it also allowed us to form friendships and relationships that I would have never imagined possible…

“It’s strange to think that the 20 of us from San Francisco are now either fully embarked or soon to embark on our journey into our final year of high school. In a few months, we’ll be done with applications and we’ll know where we’re off to for the next few years. The 19 of the Upper Galilee kids, however, won’t know what college they’re going to or what field they will be majoring in; they’ll know what field of the army they’ll be going into. They’ll be those men and women in the green uniforms that tourists always ask to take pictures with! And while we think about the danger and intensity of the army and they think about how odd it is that we’re in school for so long, in the back of our minds, I am confident that we’ll still all be thinking about each other and the absolutely life-changing, incredible, unbelievable three weeks that we got to spend together.”

See more pictures of the 2011 Israel Summer Seminar.

The Diller Teen Initiatives are funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

It’s August again, which means it’s time to celebrate this year’s Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards winners! Five exceptional teens are being recognized for their volunteer work with an Award and $36,000 to further their college education or their vision of tikkun olam or “repairing the world.”

Check out recent news on each of this year’s recipients:

Gabe Ferrick, Santa Rosa, 16 Envision No Victims: One for All and All For One Montgomery High’s Gabe Ferrick, on fighting genocide He’s 16, but the $36,000 won’t go for a car

Liza Gurtin, La Jolla, 17 Walk for Water La Jolla teen wins prestigious award Liza Gurtin: Proving Clean Water to Villages Video of Liza on San Diego Living

Naftali Moed, Pacifica, 17 Oceana High School Garden Pacifica Student Plants Seeds for the Future Tikkun Olam awards recognize teen gardening advocate

Casey Robbins, Carmichael, 17 Textbooks for Liberia Mira Loma’s Robbins wins scholarship Foundation honors teen who aids Liberians

Daniel Sobajian, Los Angeles, 17 StudentsDo.org Venice Student Honored and Businesses Get Noticed Students win Diller prize

The Diller Teen Initiatives are funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

By Nicole Miller, Executive Director of the International Diller Teen Initiatives

Nicole Miller (top row, center) with Diller Teens and their campers at Ramat Eliyahu, a community center in Rishon L’Tzion

As of this evening, all of this year’s Summer Track Diller Teen Fellows (nearly 300) are on their way home after an incredibly meaningful Israel Summer Seminar.  I’m thrilled to say that I think this was possibly our best year yet.  Every year we continue to learn from our prior experience and tweak the educational structure and content to constantly improve.

Since the Congress when all the teens were together, they spent this past week living in home hospitality with their Israeli peers from their partner region and doing community service.  I’ve had the privilege of going around to visit most of the groups this past week in their local communities and I have no doubt that you would be very proud!  Included in this blog post are a few pictures from the Rishon L’Tzion / MetroWest New Jersey summer camp that the Diller Teens planned, prepared, and ran for 140 children (many of whom are from families of Ethiopian immigrants, and most of whom are on welfare and would not otherwise be able to afford such a luxury as summer camp).

I also had the pleasure of attending the opening ceremony in the Upper Galilee / San Francisco group last Sunday, and the Closing Ceremony for the Montreal / Beer Sheva / Bnei Shimon group last night.  In both cases, the teens planned the entire program and all of the parents, extended families, and community members were dumbstruck by how creative, professional, and poignant their presentations were. Also notable is that the Diller Family received a standing ovation as the teens, their parents, and the community members all wished to express their immense gratitude to the Diller family for providing them with this opportunity.

I encourage you to take a look at what the teens posted in their own words and pictures about their experiences by reading blog posts from each community.

Finally, I would like to share a recent article in the Jerusalem Post about the Diller Teen Fellows, and be sure to check out lots of photos from the journey in our online gallery.

Diller Teen Fellows Gather at the International Congress

The Diller Teen Initiatives are funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.