Serving Their FS
H
elping and respecting others is core to Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland’s Horvitz YouthAbility program. The initiative of the Pepper Pike organization engages local disabled and at-risk youth in volunteerism and skill building. While one aim of the program is to learn, another important objective is helping the program’s participants, called ambassadors, become good people who serve their community. That certainly describes the ambassadors who have worked frontline jobs over the past year. Solomon Several ambassadors and their families decided early in the pandemic that they would continue to work throughout it, says Heidi Solomon, YouthAbility program coordinator. Working at essential businesses like grocery stores
and nursing homes, Solomon says the ambassadors truly put their training from JFSA into action. One ambassador received a bonus for working amid the risky conditions of COVID-19 and donated the funds to YouthAbility. “The main thing I want for the young people in the program is for them to be good people,” says Solomon, who was honored in the Cleveland Jewish News’ 2015 class of 18 Difference Makers. “So they are working through the pandemic, they get a bonus and they donate it, on so many levels that’s just incredible.” Another ambassador was in the first group to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020, as a nursing home employee. And all were diligent with keeping up with safety and testing protocols throughout, Solomon says. In YouthAbility, ambassadors do kind things for the Jewish community and beyond, learning in the process. For example, one non-pandemic activity involves baking cookies and selling
Arielle Brown
Aaron Greene
Occupation: Dietary department at Pleasantview Care Center in Parma
Occupation: Bagger at Heinen’s in Pepper Pike
Hometown: Strongsville
Hometown: Richmond Heights
Age: 30
30
Jstyle
Summer 2021
Age: 28
jstylemagazine.com
