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Chesed

Overview:

The Chesed program at KYHS aims to encourage students to be meaningfully engaged in community service in ways that create a lifelong love of helping others. While we have put into place annual chesed requirements, we hope that students will find opportunities to perform small acts of chesed every day.


Students can choose to fulfill the chesed requirement at the Basic level, or they can go beyond these requirements to fulfill the Honors level.

Specific Details:

 

  • Must volunteer for at least 18 hours
  • Students may volunteer during the summer
  • Chesed hours completed beyond the annual requirement do not roll to a future school year's requirement. 

  • Students may not receive payment for their services. 

  • Donations made in lieu of volunteering for Community Service hours will not be accepted.

  • Fulfillment, or the lack thereof, of the chesed requirements will be included on the transcript. 

  • Only the time spent performing the service counts towards the requirements. Travel time to and from a chesed opportunity does not count as hours of Community Service. 

  • Requirements cannot be fulfilled with hours served as part of a camp, learning, or travel program. 

  • Volunteering for Katz Yeshiva High School after school hours can count for a maximum of  8 hours per year.  

  • Boys who lain on Shabbat and Yom Tov will receive 30 minutes of Community Service per aliyah.
 

*Additional Honors Requirements

  • A minimum of 4 hours each quarter 
  • Must submit their hours on or before the last day of each quarter
  • Must volunteer for at least 30 hours during the school year - not during the summer.

How do I submit my hours?

 

Students must submit a letter, written or emailed on letterhead, from the person who supervised them at their organization.  The supervisor should email Mrs. Beth Kaminetsky ([email protected]) directly.  Neither signatures on blank sheets of paper nor a parent’s signature attesting to hours performed will be accepted will be accepted.

 

The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship program enables students to earn significant discounts on tuition at in-state public colleges and universities. In addition to academic and test score requirements, Bright Futures requires students to have completed 75 or 100 community service hours over the course of their high school career, depending on their level of scholarship. There are some instances where a student may volunteer for an organization that will be accepted by Bright Futures that will not fulfill KYHS requirements.  In those cases, the school will compile the hours for the purpose of later submitting them to the Bright Futures Scholarship even if they do not fulfill the KYHS requirements.  More information may be found in the Bright Futures handbook.

Where can I volunteer?

Students can volunteer at any communal non-profit Jewish or general organization. Some examples of acceptable Community Service facilities are hospitals, synagogues, senior living facilities, schools, and communal or charitable organizations. HERE is a list of places where you may be interested in volunteering.

 

If  students would like to assist an individual, they must submit a written request for approval BEFORE they perform the service.  If their request is approved, their hours can count towards their requirement.  Requests sent in retroactively will not count towards the requirements.