Bar/Bat Mitzvah Stories

When Danny Barry visited the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County, he noticed that the building didn’t have a good place for kids to do art. “Their art room was actually a stage,” he says. So in his Bar Mitzvah invitation, he asked that friends and family donate their new or gently used art supplies to the Boys and Girls Club.

 “The Boys and Girls Club is a safe place where kids can go so they don’t have to be on the streets,” says Danny. He says he likes art, but he’s not a big artist. Still, he understands how hard it must be not to have the art and school supplies necessary to do homework and be creative. “My Bar Mitzvah project’s art donations are going to make a lot of kids happy and when the time comes. They’re also going to make things a lot easier for these kids’ families,” says Danny.

The Boys and Girls Club is a place where kids can play flag football, take tumbling, apply for academic scholarships and make a whole bunch of different art projects. Any child or student can attend the club five days a week, up to five hours a day for fifty weeks each year, for only $5. Talk about a good deal.

Danny’s Bar Mitzvah is on May 14th at Temple Chai. “Becoming a Bar Mitzvah means becoming a man in the eyes of the Jewish community,” says Danny. “It means I have more responsibility, more things to do—and doing tzedakah shows that you don’t just care about yourself. It’s a great way to show you’re a good person.” It sure is.

Way to go, Danny!