- Jews for New Orleans » Leah Varsano

Sharing a meal

Corps members live communally in their Jefferson Avenue house uptown

Shine

Purim Masks

Corps members prepare for Purim celebrations by creating masks

Churches

Planting trees in Central City

Rachel Glicksman works with residents to beautify the neighborhood

Civic Involvement

Celebrating Chanukah

Corps members welcomed coworkers and community members to their home

Action

Learning about Bayou Bienvenue

Alum David Eber teaches the group about deforestation in the cypress swamps

Churches

Highlighting the Jewish Community's Involvement in Rebuilding New Orleans

This site is hosted by AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, which launched its New Orleans program in the fall of 2008. AVODAH engages young people in direct work on the causes and effects of poverty in the United States. This work partners Corps members with service providers and residents in low income communities and equips our Corps members and alumni to emerge as lifelong agents for social change, whose work for justice is rooted in and nourished by Jewish values.

Author Archive

Leah Varsano, from Northampton, MA, studied Religion and Asian Studies at Vassar College, and spent a semester abroad at the American Institute of Indian Studies in Madurai, India. Leah organized campus events and lobbied Congress to advocate for Farm Bill reform, and participated in Vassar’s Operation Donation, collecting and distributing goods to local community members in need. She also has experience teaching theater and filmmaking to youth. As the Assistant Neighborhood Coordinator at Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative, Leah works closely with residents of the Central City neighborhood to identify and implement programs to revitalize the community. Jericho Road supports affordable housing for neighborhood residents by building new construction homes and rehabilitating existing structures.

Radical?

Jan 11th, 2011 by Leah Varsano | 0

Several weeks ago, one of my housemates brought up the question, “Are we radical?” The question lived as an item on our white board for the week preceding our house meeting, just the one word: “RADICAL?”
At the meeting, we composed a long list of what it meant to be Radical. No electricity, home- baked bread, [...]

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