On April 23rd , Jewish teens from all over the world took to the streets for J-Serve 2006, a global tikkun olam (repair the world) day. Teens everywhere cleaned up their communities, educated about Darfur, shot hoops in charity basketball games, and sorted food for the homeless, to name just a few of the many J-Serve projects. We managed to catch up with Matt Kurs-Lasky, 17, a super-teen who coordinated all of the J-Serve action in Pittsburgh, to get the low-down on J-Serve and volunteering.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Any fun facts we should know about you?

Well, most people call me MJ. I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home of the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm currently a senior at Taylor Allderdice High School, and I have a passion to visit Australia.

So what got you interested in J-Serve?

I became interested in J-Serve this past summer when I spent three weeks in Washington D.C. with a program run by PANIM, the Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. The program, Summer JAM (Judaism, Activism and Mitzvah work), included service work, listening to speakers, and lobbying Congress. On one of the last days of the program we heard a speaker talk about continuing what we had learned during our weeks at Summer JAM and applying it back home. I came home and wanted to do something for my community. I thought I could use my inspiration from Summer JAM to motivate other teens.

What inspired you to pick the project you did?

I wanted a project that would incorporate Jewish teens of all denominations. I also thought it would be easiest to attract participants if we offered a variety of service sites.

You are coordinating an awful lot of volunteers at many agencies–how did you manage to organize such a large-scale undertaking?

I'm not going to lie–it was a lot of work. I thought and breathed J-Serve, everyday . Many nights I stayed up late to work on J-Serve, then to complete my homework. It required lots and lots of phone calls–to line up services sites, to coordinate bus transportation, etc. It took a great deal of networking, both within and beyond the Jewish community. I always had to keep my head up. I needed to think creatively to fix the kinks. It was also essential to have a support group. I had enormous help from Beth Young, our adult advisor. I also formed a teen steering committee made up of four others–Lauren Mendelson, Marla Schwartz, Alana Rudkin, and Maddie Zelicoff. Thank you steering committee! Thank you Beth, very much!

What were your biggest challenges?

There were many roadblocks throughout the entire five month J-Serve planning process. I had lots to juggle–school, homework, crew practice, extracurricular activities, and applying to colleges. Finding times to make phone calls was no small feat. Being a high school student, I obviously had school during the day and could only make calls afterwards. It also was a challenge to generate enthusiasm for our event because J-Serve was new to Pittsburgh.

How do you think the project went? Did it run smoothly?

The project was superb, excellent, and awesome–really any superlative you can think of. It was a blast. J-Serve Pittsburgh started at the Jewish Community Center, which was a little hectic getting everybody signed in, but I was glad to see so many people. One nice touch was that Mayor Bob O'Connor came and welcomed the volunteers. We had about 175 volunteers depart for 14 different service sites across the city, which is amazing considering the entire program was teen-planned and teen-run.

How has the experience impacted you as an individual?

The experience had a profound impact on me. It really reaffirmed the fact that just because I'm a teen, it doesn't at all mean that I can't do what I want. There would be times I was on the phone talking to a youth group advisor or the volunteer coordinator at a service site and they would be shocked to hear that I was a high school senior. I learned so much through the process, then, on Sunday morning, to see all my work pay off, it's amazing.

Any final words of wisdom for our readers?

First, don't let anything, anything , stop you. If you care enough about a cause, do something! "Al tifros min haTzibur." Literally, don't remove yourself from your community. Be aware of what's going on. All you need is to have a positive impact on one person. If you save one person, you've saved the world!

Joelle can barely find the time to work on JVibe, let alone eat, sleep, or organize a large-scale volunteer project. She could probably take a hint or two from Matt K-L.