Xceptional Teens Online

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." ~ President Barack Obama

When Pam Bertleson stepped off the plane, she was moved to tears. The people of Ouanaminthe, Haiti, had almost absolutely nothing. "The first thing you noticed was the smell of garbage piled everywhere, animals roaming everywhere, animal waste, human waste, and the dirty water of the river," Ms. Bertleson explained. Haiti is located 60 miles southeast of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The average income is about $400 a year. The country is still devastated by the 2010 earthquake, and has frequent tropical storms. Bertleson, a fifth-grade teacher at Vacaville Christian School, traveled with a group of 12 people from her church, Crossroads Christian Church. They began their journey at an orphanage called Danita's Children.

  About 100 people joined The Friendship Circle of Alabama for its 2nd Annual Dinner honoring its teen volunteers at the Beit Ariel Chabad Center in Birmingham. At the event, 13 local teens were honored for taking of their personal time to visit children with special needs throughout the year. “The teens in the Birmingham are amazing,” said Rabbi Levi Weinbaum , director of the Friendship Circle of Alabama.  “By last year’s dinner, we were celebrating 3 teen volunteers who went to visit 2 children from the community, and just a year later we are celebrating 13 teens who visit 7 children in the community!” “The teens here really understand what it means to give of themselves, and the responsibility that they exhibit is unprecedented,” he said.