Washington’s next generation of philanthropists

By Dan Schere

There is no age requirement to becoming a philanthropist, as 14-year old Gabriela Selmonosky has discovered over the past year.

Gabriela, a sophomore at Alexandria Country Day School, was one of 38 teenagers to complete the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Jteen Philanthropy program. The teens collectively gave more than $27,000 in grant money to 10 local and national nonprofit organizations. At a closing ceremony on April 15 at the Federation’s headquarters in Rockville, the teens were recognized for their efforts and presented each organization with a check representing a grant allocation from the program.

“At school we do a lot of community service work but it’s not so much donating money and learning how to choose from different organizations,” said Gabriela, who was involved in making a $5,000 allocation to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.

Read the full article in the Washington Jewish Week

In the 2018 – 2019 academic year, there will once again be opportunities for teens in Maryland and Northern Virginia to participate in this transformational program. Information and applications for all four cohorts can be found at www.shalomdc.org/jteen.