27 Teens Participate in Alternative Spring Break with North Shore Teen Initiative and Habitat for Humanity

February 26, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lajla LeBlanc ~ lajla@nsteeninitiative.org or 603.660.0981

Alternative Spring Break with North Shore Teen Initiative and Habitat for Humanity: 

NSTI Travels with 27 North Shore Teens for a Fourth Year of Building Homes During in North Carolina

Captions: 1) North Shore Teen Initiative traveled with 27 teens from Boston’s North Shore to Habitat For Humanity’s Collegiate Challenge program in Raleigh, NC; 

2) NSTI Executive Director Adam Smith with teen Habitat volunteers Sophie Deutsch (Marblehead), Michelle Shnayder (Swampscott) and Jake Schactman (Newburyport); 

3) Morgan Cooper (Beverly), Tyler Bial (Marblehead), Jake Schactman (Newburyport) and Alex Jacobs (Swampscott) work with an Americorp volunteer on the porch for this Habitat home; 

4) Aaron Greiner (Gloucester), Doug Mears (Beverly), Dave Burdick and Nate Maselek (Marblehead) work on pipes in a Habitat home crawlspace; 

5) Dylann Cooper and Maxine Greenstein (Beverly) paint interior walls at one of the Habitat homes assigned to the NSTI group; 

6) NSTI Program Fellow Sue Callum supervises Doug Mears (Peabody), Alex Golding (Wakefield) Lindsey Ellis (Peabody), Michelle Shnayder (Swampscott) while reclaiming wood at NSTI’s Habitat deconstruction site; 

7) Ali Gottsegen (Peabody) and Natalie Mechanic (Middleton) head off to salvage wood with tools in hand

[Raleigh, NC, February 2014) –  For a fourth consecutive year, teens from around Boston’s North Shore joined North Shore Teen Initiative to volunteer with Wake County Habitat for Humanity during their 2014 spring break. This year, 27 teens participated in Habitat’s national alternative break program, Collegiate Challenge. 

“NSTI is thrilled to work with Habitat and Collegiate Challenge on this exceptional program to do important work, learn new skills and help people who are reaching toward home ownership,” said NSTI Executive Director Adam Smith.  “This is North Shore Teen Initiative’s fourth time volunteering with Habitat for Humanity during spring break to build affordable housing. Teen interest in making a difference in really significant ways continues to grow.”

 The NSTI teens traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina on February 16th, leaving snow, wind and below-freezing temperatures for 65-degree days. As part of Habitat’s credo to “reduce, reuse and recycle,” they started the week working on a deconstruction project, salvaging wood from a demolished home that would later be reused. The following three days were spent working on new homes, including weatherproofing, building floors, painting interiors and more.

For the past 25 years, more than 197,000 students have spent their school breaks volunteering across the country through this Habitat for Humanity program. 

“My generation has a great sense of urgency about the need for volunteers. We don’t want to be passive; we want to use our time well and have a say in our future,” said Dave Burdick, a senior at Marblehead High School and third-year Habitat/NSTI volunteer.

The North Shore Teen Initiative (NSTI) is an organization committed to building community among Jewish teens through institutional collaboration, a rich spectrum of innovative programming and participation in national opportunities. NSTI strives to connect Jewish teens to their peers and to motivate participation in Jewish life through: 

1.  Collaborating across the community for teen engagement 

2.  Offering new experientially-based programming rooted in Jewish values and learning 

3.  Expanding opportunities to participate in "best practice" programming in New England and beyond.

To learn more about all of NSTI’s opportunities for social action, community collaboration, leadership development, immersion, travel and fun, visit www.nsteeninitiative.org and www.facebook.com/nsti18, email at info@nsteeniniative.org or call 781.244.5544.