One of my favorite parts of NFTY-NE’s December Institute is always the talent show senior auction. In between acts, various seniors will auction themselves off, offering an original song or shopping trip or something like that, and all of the money raised goes to the scholarship fund. Towards the end of the night it was announced that nearly $800 had been raised, and we were hoping to get to $800 by the end. Immediately several people stood up with money to donate, and within seconds we were past the goal. I was completely blown away by the region’s eagerness and generosity.

I haven’t been to every event since my freshman year, but every event I’ve been to was only possible through this scholarship fund. I come from a very low-income household, which has been the biggest struggle in my life. It’s come with food stamps, low-income housing, visits to food pantries, and the daily struggles of living in an upper-middle class suburb.

But I’ve been forever grateful for the community that NFTY has been for me. NFTY has allowed me to escape the chores of my daily life and just exist in a community of people who doesn’t know or care about my background and also supports me when I need it. I cannot repeat enough how amazing and important these few short events can be to a person like me.

And it’s because of the generosity and commitment of the region that I am able to have these amazing experiences. Because of you, I can experience an incredible service where everyone is blindfolded, but by the end we learn that we are never isolated and we really have a whole group of loving people around us. Because of you, I can get in a circle of girls and scream Miriam’s Song at the top of my lungs without a care in the world.

At the talent show, there’s a tradition of two girls singing “For Good” from the musical Wicked, and it always makes me cry. This year, as I sat crying at this emotional song, a person who I had only briefly met before came over to me and hugged me through half of the song. This is the kind of thing that I love about NFTY, and I am forever grateful for what you do to make this community possible for me, and for so many others.