Shayna's Service Project --> The 2009 PKD Walk for the Cure
My team is part of my Bat Mitzvah Community Project. Tikkun Olam, in Hebrew means "helping to perfect the world", and since my dad has PKD, I want to help the PKD Foundation collect money for reasearch into this disease that caused my dad to be on dialysis for three years, and to finally get a transplant this year in March.
Girls my age in my Jewish Congregation, Kol Halev, choose "tzedakah projects" [service projects] as part of our preparation for Bat Mitzvah. This requirement helps us understand the idea that the mitzvot [commandments] which we are obligated to involve not only our religious practice and prayer, but also social action.
I have participated in the PKD Walk for 3 years now and I usually run the walk instead of walking the walk. This year my dad helped me start my own Team and I also will be helping with setting up the walk and volunteering to assist the younger children in a jumping castle we will have.
Why We Walk…
The Walk for PKD is the PKD Foundation’s signature fundraising event so we wish you will make a donation to our team and help us support the fight against polycystic kidney disease! Fighting PKD is a team effort. The impact we can make together is much greater than what any of us could do alone. By supporting our team, you will be a part of a life-changing event that celebrates the families whose legacy is far too tied to PKD, remembers loved ones lost to it, and empowers all of us to fight back against a disease that takes too much.
Polycystic kidney disease is one of the most common life-threatening genetic diseases, affecting more people that Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia - combined. Currently there is no treatment and no cure… But there is hope.
The PKD Foundation is here to ensure that someday, no one suffers the full effects of PKD. And it is your financial support that makes this all possible. Please help me make a difference by making a donation or joining our team to fundraise beside us, today!
The walk was a success, in spite of the RAIN... which was also much needed in Austin. Here is Shayna's Thank You to the people who supported her walk.
Thank you for your generous donation to the PKD Foundation. Our team, Tikkun Olam, raised over $800! We didn't walk that day because it was too rainy but me and my friends Calla and Jamie volunteered and set up a velcro wall target for kids to throw at and then helped clean up the place afterwards. We were supposed to help with the jumping castle but that didn't happen because of the rain. The three of us walked the course in the rain! We had fun volunteering together.
I went to two meetings before the walk and that helped me to know what to do when I got there. I hope that the money the 19 of you donated will help cure PKD. They use 83 cents of every dollar for patient education and research for a cure. We still have our team page up if you want to ask your friends to donate too.
And thanks also for helping me complete my Bat Mitvah service project.
Shayna Nowicki
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Shayna's Part of the Torah Reading
Shayna has been studying with Rabbi Baker every other week to study her Torah portion for the Bat Mitzvah. Shayna's portion is from Genesis 28:10 through 32:3; the story of Jacob coming to Haran and sleeping with his head on a stone that gave him a dream. In the dream G-d told Jacob that this land was to be his and that he would start a tribe that would spread from this place outward. G-d also told Jacob that he would protect him and when Jacob awoke he said, "How awesome is this place!" and he named it Bethel. Then Jacob resumed his journey to Haran where he met Rachel and her father Laban. Jacob and Laban set an agreement for Jacob to work for Laban for seven years in exchange for taking Rachel as his wife. However, Laban fooled Jacob and gave him his older daughter, Leah.
In Shayna's own words, in response to Rabbi's questions about G-d's communicating with prophets with dreams, Shayna said, "No, God does not always communicate through dreams; with Moses he just basically talked to him whenever he felt like it." She continued that it would be difficult for her to have such a dream, since she doesn't remember her dreams.