Latest news from BBYO Naples and Fort Myers

By Cayla Schreier, BBYO Southwest Coordinator

There is a lot of exciting news coming out of the Naples and Fort Myers BBYO chapters. Unlike most teens, these high schoolers are not glued to their phones 24/7. The teens of BBYO Naples are working hard to hold weekly meetings and one event per month. They held two chapter meetings in March.

On March 5, the teens celebrated Purim in the morning and later attended the BBYO chapter meeting at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center. Bella Schaab, Chapter N’siah (president), ran the meeting. Schaab discussed the rules for using the new BBYO lounge and explained the different chapter leadership board positions. Attendees enjoyed playing pingpong and sitting in the bean bag chairs at the meeting.

The Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center hosted BBYO CEO Matt Grossman in the BBYO lounge on March 16. Grossman led a roundtable discussion and spoke about the current progress of BBYO and its future direction. The meeting was very inclusive, allowing alumni attendees to ask questions and share their favorite BBYO memories.

BBYO’s second chapter meeting was on March 19 at First Watch in Naples. Everyone had a wonderful time discussing BBYO future events while munching on a delicious brunch.

On March 26, the BBYO chapters held a Painting and Pottery event at Cone 06 Pottery Painting Studio in Naples. They chose pottery sculptures, individually painted them and learned about the history of ceramics in Judaism. The teens also had fun at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center’s Israel @ 75 celebrations earlier that day.

Temple Shalom’s Men’s Club generously donated funds to provide scholarships for eligible Naples BBYO teens to attend the upcoming North Florida Region’s Spring Regional Convention. Larry Sandler, a BBYO alum and Temple Shalom Men’s Club liaison, is joining the BBYO Naples Board of Directors. We look forward to the Men’s Club's future involvement in BBYO.

Some of our BBYO teens attended SRC in Orlando in mid-April after preparing for the fun-filled convention with a planning session. They were excited to meet BBYO teens of the other NFR Chapters at the convention.

The teens worked to plan a J-Serve event and elections during the months of April and May.

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. BBYO accepts all Jewish teens attending eighth through twelfth grades. BBYO reaches over 70,000 teens worldwide.

Supporting our teenage Jewish community

Post-B’nai Mitzvah-age teens' involvement in BBYO and eagerness to create and confidently continue their own Jewish community within their greater Jewish communities is critical to our future. BBYO Naples is partnering with Jewish Federation of Greater Naples, Temple Shalom, Chabad of Naples and Beth Tikvah. Each organization provides support for our teens. We thank everyone for providing a great environment for our teens.

If you know of someone who has a teen who might like to join BBYO or become an advisor to our chapters, please email me at cschreier@bbyo.org. Follow us for updates on Instagram at Mishpacha_BBG.

Both Jewish Federation of Greater Naples and the Temple Shalom Men’s Club offer scholarships to attend BBYO conventions and summer programs. For more information on scholarships, please contact me (cschreier@bbyo.org). Please email us at mjs0821@aol.com if you would like to be included in our Friends and Alumni of BBYO mailing list.