MANALAPAN — Local teenagers Morlie Agor, Sarah Abramow and Rachel Shafrir represented Manalapan at the Leadership Weekend, a national conference for teen volunteer leaders that was held in West Bloomfield, Mich., over the weekend of Feb. 6-8.
According to a press release, the weekend was part of the Friendship Circle organization, a program which pairs service-minded teens with children who have special needs. Since its 1994 inception in West Bloomfield, Mich., the Friendship Circle phenomenon has spread to 15 American states and seven countries for a current total of 72 branches and 9,850 volunteers.
The Friendship Circle volunteers, ranging in age from 12 to 24, spend at least one hour a week with their special friend. They complete activities together, talk, enjoy each other’s company and most importantly, they give the often-stressed parents a much needed break.
With the program’s popularity leading to rapid expansion worldwide in the past decade, a demand for enhanced infrastructure was created with the launching of the International Volunteer Club two years ago, according to the press release.
“It gave us a chance to step out of our typical lives. It gave us a chance to understand what our special friends have to go through” said Gila Akselrad, of Livingston, who is also a member of Volunteer Leadership Club’s board. “Learning from other volunteers, hearing their stories, the activities and seminars … it helped us grow even more”
The nucleus of each local chapter is its volunteer club, whose members are drawn from local schools, synagogues and other institutions. In turn, each represented organization has at least one volunteer leader whose responsibilities include much of the grassroots recruiting, publicity and activity coordination — and it is these young leaders that the conference sought to address and serve.
Volunteers attending the conference enjoyed workshops on leadership skills, local club coordination and enhancing medical/ occupational training for children with special needs.

