{"id":53265,"date":"2016-02-25T15:49:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T20:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=53265"},"modified":"2016-02-25T17:29:33","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T22:29:33","slug":"24-hours-nets-80k-to-keep-heart-to-heart-beating-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/24-hours-nets-80k-to-keep-heart-to-heart-beating-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"24-Hour Fundraiser Nets 80K to Keep Heart to Heart Beating Strong"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Group
Group picture from the end of the Shabbaton. Heart to Heart Founder and Director Hart Levine, far left, stands with student leaders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last week, the Jewish campus outreach movement Heart to Heart<\/em>, part of the Orthodox Union\u2019s NextGen Division, tried to raise $60,000 in 24 hours. In the end, they didn\u2019t raise the $60,000.<\/p>\n

They raised $80,000!<\/p>\n

Heart to Heart <\/em>began as a simple idea. While studying bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 2008, Hart Levine realized that most of the thousands of Jews at Penn were devoid of anything Jewish in their lives. He felt compelled to do something about it.<\/p>\n

He thought, \u201cWhy not give them a warm, stimulating Shabbat meal with their Penn peers?\u201d He promptly met with a group of fellow Orthodox students, urging them to get the word out to every non-affiliated classmate they knew. \u201cI knew that they could reach other students in a way that no organization could,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

That first Shabbat dinner led to many more and soon included holiday celebrations. Levine enlisted the help of rabbanim who educated the group on running a halachic seder for people unfamiliar with Jewish law or what a seder actually represents. According to Levine, between the two nights in the first year, roughly 150 students participated in the seders. \u201cFor some of them it was the first time they walked into the Hillel building,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"logo1\"His brainchild quickly turned into a thriving grassroots movement, as campuses across the country readily implemented the, aptly named, Heart to Heart<\/em> program. \u201cThis is exactly what our campus needs,\u201d Orthodox students told Levine.<\/p>\n

Looking to network about the growing program, Levine asked Rabbi David \u201cDave\u201d Felsenthal, director of OU\u2019s NextGen division, to mentor him and work with his leaders. Rabbi Dave was so impressed that he invited Hart and Heart to Heart <\/em>to join the OU. With the OU\u2019s help, Heart to Heart <\/em>continued to expand, allowing thousands of unaffiliated Jewish college students to experience meaningful Judaism for the first time.<\/p>\n

Last month, Rabbi Dave approached three donors and offered them a deal: If Rabbi Dave could raise $60,000 in a 24-hour period, they would cover one-quarter of the amount pledged. If not, every donation would have to be returned. The goal was easily met within seven hours. A bonus round of new pledges by the OU NextGen board added an additional $20,000 to the total amount.<\/p>\n

\"A
A Heart to Heart jam session during Chanukah.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Evidently, the campaign generated considerable excitement. \u201cWe would tag people on Facebook, saying, \u2018Thank you to Sara and David for giving,\u2019\u201d recounts Levine. \u201cTheir friends would see it and think, \u2018all my friends are giving; maybe I should give too!\u2019\u201d And they did \u2013 in droves.<\/p>\n

Levine reports that the vast majority of donations came from people who had been involved in the program. \u201cFive or six years after they\u2019ve graduated college and are into their careers, many of them wanted to give back,\u201d says Levine. \u201cThe whole model of Heart to Heart<\/em> is built around empowering the students. So this was a natural extension.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $80,000 coup will certainly keep Heart to Heart<\/em>\u2019s outreach efforts on the current 50 campuses going strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of colleges with a dozen to hundreds of Torah observant students and thousands of uninvolved, unaffiliated Jewish students who have never been to a Shabbat table, who don\u2019t know other Jews on campus,\u201d Levine said. \u201cThey are thrilled that someone cares about them enough to share a meaningful [Jewish] experience with them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Jewish campus outreach movement Heart to Heart, part of the Orthodox Union\u2019s NextGen Division, tried to raise $60,000 in 24 hours. In the end, they didn\u2019t raise the $60,000. They raised $80,000! Heart to Heart began as a simple idea. While studying bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 2008, Hart Levine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n24-Hour Fundraiser Nets 80K to Keep Heart to Heart Beating Strong - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/24-hours-nets-80k-to-keep-heart-to-heart-beating-strong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"24-Hour Fundraiser Nets 80K to Keep Heart to Heart Beating Strong - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week, the Jewish campus outreach movement Heart to Heart, part of the Orthodox Union\u2019s NextGen Division, tried to raise $60,000 in 24 hours. 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