This summer I volunteered at The Miami Lighthouse for the Blind. I have a cousin who lost his eyesight who I love very much, and he was the one who really inspired me to do this.

I spend most of my 108 hours working with visually impaired and blind children in the summer camp program. I worked with them learning braille, writing, and computers, and we even went bowling, skating, and sailing.

One boy I met who was 15 told me not to be afraid to ask him questions about what it was like to be blind. He told me that being sad, and just quitting everything wouldn't help his problem, so he has to work hard and do what he can. This really got to me because it made me think about times when I give up on myself too easily.

It was really an honor to have the children trust me to guide them from place to place and to have them want to be with me so much. it is a really good feeling that I will never forget. This turned out to be more than a summer Bar Mitzvah project. I really think it has made a big difference in my live and I look forward to seeing my new friends again next summer when I return.

In order to become Bat-Mitzvahed one of the things I had to do was to choose a service project that I wished to carry out during the year. Almost every Saturday since the spring of 1998 I have been fulfilling my project.

My project involved teaching children ages 7-13 music theory. The children that I taught were either children of migrant worker families or children of poor parents. The children were in a program which included music lessons and theory on Saturday mornings . The program took place in a migrant workers community in Florida City.

This project made me feel better about my self.