Next Dor St. Louis

On Thursday August 19th, a group of young adults spanning Jewish, Muslim (Shia and Sunni), Mormon, and Christ Scientist faiths gathered at Next Dor for a night of conversation and dialogue.

The event, planned by the Anti-Defamation League, in conjunction with the Interfaith Partnership and Faith Beyond Walls, took the form of 'Speed Dating' in which the young adults spent a few minutes getting to know someone of a different faith before moving to someone else.  During each conversation, the young adults were asked to describe how they perceive and practice their faith.

"It is always wonderful being around people who want to learn, and who are willing to step out of their comfort zone in order to do it," explained Karen Aroesty, Regional Director for the ADL.  "Last Thursday, it was even more wonderful that so many different questions were raised, and answered, in such a positive, relaxed setting.  It was a very good place to be."

"The Interfaith event at Next Dor was the perfect forum to not only share the differences in our faith, but to more importantly recognize our commonalities,"  said Hammad Haider, one of the participants.  "I truly felt welcomed, like I was a part of a loving Interfaith family."

On Saturday July 24, 2010, the National Council of Jewish Women held the 10th annual Backto School! Store at CRC. 


The Back to School! Store is an event that allows underprivileged kids to pick out essential items with the assistance of a personal shopper. The items are all donated and each child receives tennis shoes, socks, a winter coat, underwear, a hat, gloves, a backpack, school supplies, personal care items and a book. The children also have free eye screenings and dental hygiene information available to them. A family resource room is also available and connects the families with local community organizations which can meet many of
their needs.


The event relies heavily on volunteers to operate, and this year a group from the Next Dor community came and donated their time to the cause. 
 
“Back to School! Store is one of those programs that simply wouldn’t exist without volunteers," said Karen Goodman, one of the planners for the event. 

"Each year we have about 50 volunteers on the steering committee who work all year long to pull together this massive one day event. But it’s the volunteers who show up on the last Sunday in July to help the kids in the store who really make the store come alive. Most of us who volunteer really can’t imagine what it would be like to be 6 years old and to show up on the first day of school without a backpack, new tennis shoes and everything that was listed on the school supply list. But for the kids invited to shop at BTSS, it’s a fact of life. These kids are embarrassed about their old shoes, hand me down clothes and that their parents simply can’t afford to buy them the things they need for school. It’s no surprise that the first day of school isn’t something to get excited
about for these kids. BTSS doesn’t just give the kids a few things so that their families don’t have to buy it for them. BTSS volunteers get a chance to look a child in the eye and help them get excited about school. Little boys growing up in homes without positive male role models get to have a guy tell them it’s cool to get excited about school. Little girls get to pick out the sparkly outfit that their mom’s might pass over as not so practical.” 


The group of volunteers, organized by David Elias, managed to provide volunteers for all three shifts and signals the the beginning of what we hope to be many community service oriented projects for Next Dor.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact:
Kimmi Levinson
Next Dor STL
314-753-5058
kimberlylevinson@gmail.com
www.nextdorstl.org 

Local Social Entrepreneur Selected as PresenTense Global Fellow 

St. Louis, MO (May 2010) – Yoni Sarason, the Program Director of Next Dor STL, has been invited to spend 6 weeks this summer living in Jerusalem as a PresenTense Fellow.  Since opening its doors in November of 2009, Next Dor STL has connected hundreds of young Jewish adults in St. Louis.  Each year, PresenTense selects a handful of social entrepreuers working on a variety of social ventures that seek to solve problems facing the Jewish People and the World to participate in the program. 

Sarason connected with Ariel Beery, the co-founder of PresenTense at the Birthright Israel NEXT National Conference in New Orleans in March of this year.  They immediately recognized the connection between the work that Next Dor STL has been doing in the St. Louis community and the work that PresentTense does on a global scale.  After the conference, Beery invited Sarason to connect with Aharon Horowitz, his business partner, who encouraged Sarason to apply for the fellowship, believing that he could bring his knowledge to the table to help other projects. “I'm honored to have been selected for this fellowship” remarks Sarason,  “Not only do I believe this to me an amazing opportunity for personal development, I think that it is really a testament to the power of the community that has grown around Next Dor STL and the impact that community has had for individuals involved.” 

The PresenTense website describes the PresenTense Summer Institute as “a unique training program for Jewish social entrepreneurs, built by entrepreneurs.  It incorporates a number of training modules to provide innovators the resources, skills and opportunities needed for venture success.  Fellows are taught core business skills through skillbuilding sessions, the tool-kit is refined by leading academics and business professionals, fellows are mentored by leaders in their fields, coached by professionals, connected with industry peers -- and showcased to the greater community in a final Launch Night.” Sarason adds “I look forward to gaining skills related to leadership, management, organizational development and sustainability within a Jewish context that understands and respects the unique position of the Next Dor STL project.”
 
Sarason departs June 8, 2010. He shares “I anticipate coming back to St. Louis with an even greater passion matched with heightened abilities and more honed skills.” For the year following his return, PresenTense will continue to work with Sarason and Next Dor STL through the Venture Development services.  


While Sarason is travelling, Jacob Albert and David Elias will assume his responsibilities.

May 10 officially marked six months of programs, events, and community at Next Dor.


You have supported the organization, planned events, showed up, hung out, told friends, and for all of that, we thank you.


Since November 10th, nearly 250 individuals have participated in the more than 80 events hosted at Next Dor for a total of about 900 'visits'.


As we look towards the next six months, we want to continue to hear from you.  How do you want to use the house, the network, the community?  What are you looking for?

Rabbi Akiva Tatz, who has written and spoken on a large number of Jewish subjects, spoke at Next Dor last night to a crowd of interested young adults spanning the religious spectrum.

Rabbi Tatz spoke about relationships, and more specifically marriage in the Jewish context.  For more on his talk, click here.

PJ at Jewishinstlouis.org just published a great story about some of the Yoga going on at Next Dor.  You can read that story here.

This past weekend at Next Dor was certainly one for the books.  Starting with 3rd Fridays, a casual Shabbat dinner idea brought to St. Louis by Roland Roth, around 70 people came over, ate, hung out, and generally had a good time.


Then, on Saturday, Next Dor Art Coordinator Sarah Bernstein moved into the house.  She has already started reorganizing the place and has some pretty grand ideas.


On Sunday, between Hamantaschen baking, board meetings, and mezuzah hanging, the house was pretty lively all day.  Check out the pictures on our facebook page!

Tu B'shvat is like the Jewish arbor day.  We celebrate our ancient and sometimes mystical connection to nature and take a moment to reflect on the sheer wonder of our natural world.

Thanks to Molly Zeff, Next Dor was able to host a Tu B'shvat Seder this past Saturday night.  You can read a press release from JewishinStLouis here.  

Check out Zeff's thoughts on the event:
"Having never been to a Next Dor event or met anyone from the community besides [Yoni Sarason], I had no idea what to expect when I led a Tu B’shvat seder there this past Saturday night that was focused on the interrelated themes of awe and stewardship within Judaism's texts on the environment.  At Next Dor, I found a welcoming, easygoing bunch of Jewish twenty-somethings, and we ended up having a fun (and sometimes humorous) seder full of engaging discussions about topics such as what we need beyond action when it comes to Jewish environmental activism and what we care about changing with regards to "greening" St. Louis.  

"I am thinking about moving back to St. Louis, and it was exciting to see that there is a venue through which young Jews can act on issues that are important to them, as well as a place where you can get to know people with similar interests.  Next Dor is really fulfilling its vision of being a community built by and for young Jews -- as well as a place that is continuously open to the ideas of anyone who walks through its doors."

The house is always open to great ideas like this one.  Check out the full text of the Seder below:

Moving from a just an event venue to a center for the community is no small feat.  That's why this past weekend was so exciting.


On Saturday, we had a few people over to hang out, and then were able to host Nishmah's Banot Buddies.  Nishmah is a group for Jewish women in St. Louis that offers different programming at a variety of age levels.  

Sunday morning started out with a group who helped us get rid of (eat) our leftovers.  In the afternoon, a group of young entrepreneurs, both in the for profit and non-profit world came over to learn about one another's ventures and talk about ways they could help each other.  A surprise appearance by area philanthropist and entrepreneur Michael Staenberg helped get the point across that we can connect people to important resources in the community.


Check out the calendar to see what is up coming, including Hebrew conversations, and Israeli Movies!