CMS 7th grader makes giving

BY FREDA MIKLIN STAFF WRITER

As Emily Miller, a 7th grader at Campus Middle School in Greenwood Village, considered her upcoming Bat Mitzvah, she looked for ways to contribute to her community that would be meaningful. The literal translation of “Bat Mitzvah” is Daughter of the Commandments. According to the laws of the Jewish faith, it signifies the time in one’s life where she (he if it’s a Bar Mitzvah) becomes responsible for her actions. No longer are parents religiously accountable for their children’s behavior.

One of the main tenets of Judaism is the concept of “Tikkun Olam,” an idiom that refers to the responsibility of Jews to take actions to leave the world in a better condition than they found it—to repair the world in some fashion.

It is that sense of duty that led Emily Miller to Urban Peak, a homeless shelter in downtown Denver for teenagers. A year before her Bat Mitzvah, Emily began bringing food to Urban Peak with her family and helping serve it to the teens there. Sometimes they cooked the food they brought. Sometimes they got other families to cook and picked up the food and brought it there. Sometimes they got it donated from places like Maggiano’s, Fire Bowl, Tzatziki’s Restaurant, Nonna’s Italian Bistro, and even Crumbl Cookies. “Lots of restaurants were really great about it,” Emily told The Villager, “but others we asked for donations said no, so we just kept going.”

She also asked for monetary donations for Urban Peak when she could and picked those up and delivered them with the food. Sara Miller, Emily’s mom, told us, “If they don’t get donations of food, they have to scrounge and find what they can. They don’t have a very