Through a course of study that provides exposure to basic Judaism, parents can then make informed decisions regarding religious identity for their children.

Approximately 67% of our families continue with Jewish education after Stepping Stones.

Stepping Stones...to a Jewish Me was developed in Denver twelve years ago and has become a national model for effective programming for the interfaith populations.

In the summer of 1988, Sarah, a teenager of 15 years, attended an orientation evening for Stepping Stones. She has come across town on the bus by herself to find out about the program called Stepping Stones...to a Jewish Me. She always knew she had a Jewish mother, but she did not have any knowledge or experiences to help her relate to her own identity. She spoke of a void in her life, a longing to understand what it meant to be Jewish. Sarah made an unusual commitment for a child of her age, to attend classes every Sunday, and to enage on the study of something new and unknown.

In the two years Sarah spent with us, she began to develop her elusive Jewish identity. After Stepping Stones, she graduated from Denver's Jewish Community High School and joined other Jewish teens on an Israeli study tour.

Sarah went off to college where she continued her Jewish studies. Four years later, she returned to Denver and applied to be a counselor on Denver's Israel Study Tour. She also volunteered her time to the Stepping Stones fundraiser. She immersed herself in a community she could NOW comfortably call her own. After completing her tour of Israel, Sarah now teaches in the Stepping Stones program.

Too often, as professionals, we look only at number vs. dollars expended. It is important to translate those numbers into real lives with compelling stories.

Phyllis Adler
Stepping Stones...to a Jewish Me
Denver, CO

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