Updates from BBYO Naples and Fort Myers

By Cayla Schreier, BBYO Southwest Coordinator

On Saturday, Nov. 18, our teens held a meaningful Havdalah ceremony focusing on the IsraelHamas war. The six teens shared their thoughts on the current conflict in Israel with the support of their BBYO friends.

Two of our teens attended the AllFlorida Fall Convention, which was held Nov. 17-19 in Fort Lauderdale. This weekend-long Shabbaton hosted members from the North Florida Region, Florida’s Gold Coast Region and the Miami-Dade Region. The teens had a nice time reuniting with their NFR friends and meeting new BBYO friends from the Gold Coast and Miami-Dade regions. They also participated in fun and educational programs, such as spiritual meditation through beatboxing, culinary presentation and social media, responding to antisemitism and creating make-up and body scrubs.

We held our first Naples BBYO fundraiser on Tuesday, Nov. 28, at California Pizza Kitchen’s Waterside Shops location. We also participated in BBYO’s international fundraising campaign called GivingBBYO Day, on Nov. 28. Thank you to all the donors for their generosity by contributing to our fundraisers.

We were excited to celebrate BBYO’s Global Shabbat on Friday, Dec. 8 at Lowdermilk Beach in Naples.

What is BBYO?

BBYO is a diverse and inclusive Jewish youth group to encourage Jewish teens to become more immersed and interested in meaningful Jewish activities and programs. Our organization accepts Jewish teens attending 8th through 12th grades of all backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender, race, denominational affiliation or socioeconomic status. BBYO currently reaches over 70,000 teens worldwide, with participants in over 60 countries and hundreds of chapters across the United States.

Supporting our teenage Jewish community

It is crucial to engage teens post-B’nai Mitzvah age in Jewish activities. Having teens get involved in BBYO and be eager to create and confidently continue their own Jewish community within their greater Jewish communities is critical to our future.

The BBYO chapter of Naples has entered its 11th year of partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples, Temple Shalom, Chabad of Naples and Beth Tikvah. Each organization provides financial support, volunteers and community involvement opportunities for the BBYO teens. We thank each and every one of our BBYO alum, friends and other supporters for making this a safe and positive environment for the teens of BBYO Naples and Fort Myers.

If you know of someone who has a teen who might like to join BBYO Naples or Fort Myers or know of someone who may want to be an advisor to our chapters, please email the Southwest Coordinator, Cayla Schreier, at cschreier@bbyo.org. You can also follow us on Instagram at Mishpacha_BBG and Negevaza.

Scholarships to attend BBYO conventions and summer programs are available through both the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples and the Temple Shalom Men’s Club. Please contact Cayla for more information on scholarships. If you are a BBYO alum and would like to be included in our Friends and Alumni of BBYO mailing list, please email us at mjs0821@aol.com.