Friendship Circle of Greater Hartford launched the group’s ninth year with a teen orientation. Friendship Circle brings together children and young adults with and without special needs for a wide range of educational and social programs in a Jewish environment. At the heart of the organization is a group of teens who volunteer their time to support and befriend people with special needs. Among the programs Friendship Circle offers to those with special needs and their families are home visits, holiday programs, life-skills workshops and sibling support.

At the recent Friendship Circle volunteer orientation, teens heard from experts and parents on a variety of topics, including Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff, director of the Jewish Deaf Foundation. Soudakoff also organizes camps for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and has a vlog on the subject of being deaf. Himself deaf, Soudakoff was raised in Los Angeles by deaf parents. When he was 13 a hearing friend invited him to come to synagogue. The experience eventually led him to the only deaf Jewish boys high school in the world.

Max Drazen, a member of the Friendship Circle Teen Leadership Board described the orientation as “a great time…everyone seemed excited and eager to begin.”

CAP: Teen volunteers show off their new Friendship Circle t-shirts at the group’s recent orientation.