Kehillah Class of 2019 Class Trips @kehillah2019 - Tumblr Blog

Day #5 in Portland

The Class of 2019 made the most of every minute during our final day in Portland. Crew Alef spent the day at Learning Gardens Laboratory, while Crew Bet headed off to Agape Village. Both groups dove into their work projects and enjoyed the deep conversations and interactions with our site hosts. Everyone felt like we accomplished a lot and felt grateful for the opportunity to serve with these amazing agencies. After our work days, we stopped by the Mississippi Avenue neighborhood to enjoy some shopping and Blue Star Donuts. Our day ended with a powerful outreach experience with Night Strike, where we brought coffee, sandwiches, socks, and hand warmers to houseless folks in the area. We are packing late tonight and ready to head home tomorrow.

Day #4 in Portland

During our “Outside the Frame” session last night, many seniors spoke about how grateful they are for the opportunity to experience Tivnu and Portland this week. We took this spirit into our work today, braving the cold and snow to learn from our hosts and contribute to the community. Crew Alef headed off to Agape Village where teams are constructing a community of small houses for houseless people in the area. The group learned to use power saws, to build sawhorses, to pull nails out of wood safely, and to install a window. One of Agape’s current residents built us a great fire to keep us warm as we worked. Shirley deserves a special shout out for spending hours organizing the supply shed at Agape. Crew Bet volunteered with Habitat today and returned to the water drainage project at a family’s home. The crew did an amazing job of digging through very tough ground surfaces to expand the trench and backyard well. The results of the crew’s work will help create an effective, environmentally sound system of draining excess water at this home. A few Bet crew members also split off and completed a project at another Habitat site, carrying wood, caulking, and helping with other tasks.

After our service projects, we visited the Portland Japanese Garden for a short hike and beautiful views, followed by down time at the hotel. Tonight, we enjoyed a night at Powell’s Books, browsing the incredible book selection and visiting the coffee shop. A few people found Voodoo Doughnut a few blocks away and bought some of the city’s best, unique doughnuts. Time is going quickly, and we are preparing for our last service day tomorrow.

Day #3 in Portland

Today, the Class of 2019 team divided into two work crews. Crew Alef spent the day with Habitat for Humanity, learning about the history of the program and its efforts with Green Building and sustainability. The group focused on digging a drainage system at a family’s home, including a trench along the side of the house and a well in the backyard. Steven, one of Habitat’s staff members, showed us how to work around the roots and cement that made the dig particularly challenging. It was great to meet one of the owners of the house, along with her dog. The group then visited another Habitat site and had a tour of an impressive building site.

Crew Bet had a wonderful learning experience at the Learning Gardens Laboratory. We had a tour of the heirloom apple orchards, planted seeds, mulched beds, carted wheelbarrows of dirt and wood chips, helped build a hugelkultur bed, and tasted fresh vegetables from the garden. Adinah led a very thought-provoking discussion on the meaning and significance of the word “kosher.” We also learned about all kinds of cool gardening connections to social justice and environmental concerns. Notable events included a giant earthworm discovered by Dylan and getting to use the sundial garden to tell time.

After our work projects, we headed off to the Hawthorne Blvd. area for some fun shopping and food. Later this evening, Tivnu gap year students (included Kehillah’s own Henry Belman) joined us for dinner and some interesting conversations about their experiences. One of the day’s highlights came when two filmmakers from “Outside the Frame” screened their films and led an engaging discussion about marginalized youth and the housing crisis in Portland. We learned so much from them about the complex issues that lead to houselessness and were inspired by their activism and example. Another wonderful, tiring day.. and we’re looking forward to tomorrow!

Day #2 in Portland

The Class of 2019 had a snow day today! We left Portland for the beauty of Mt. Hood and a day of snow activities. One group hit the cross country trails for an amazing 2-hour experience, gliding over hills and enjoying the scenery. The other group drove up to Timberline Lodge, a national historic landmark built by the W.P.A. in the late 1930′s, to relax and take in the views. Both groups then met back up to go snow tubing at Mt. Hood Skibowl before heading back to the city. After dinner, the seniors explored the neighborhood along 23rd Avenue near our hotel and had some down time. One highlight was eating some of the city’s best ice cream at Salt and Straw Ice Cream. We are excited to begin our service work projects tomorrow with Tivnu.

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Day #1 in Portland

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Great first day for the Class of 2019 in Portland! After an early morning departure from SFO, we landed in PDX and headed off to our opening session with Tivnu. Our wonderful program directors, Steve and Adinah introduced us to Tivnu’s mission and highlighted all that we will be doing this week. After some group icebreakers and lunch, we went to Dignity Village where we learned about an amazing initiative to address the homelessness issue in the city. We were so fortunate to have Lisa, one of the residents, and others share what makes their community so special. After our visit, we experienced the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, stopping at the Vista House first with its amazing view of the Columbia River Gorge. Then, we did a really beautiful, challenging hike at Latourell Falls that took us to some huge waterfalls. For Californians, it was a pretty cold afternoon, but we had a great time. After dinner at the hotel, we went to Oaks Park Roller Skating for some old fashioned fun. Some hanging out at the hotel tonight before calling it a night. Looking forward to another great day.