Joshua Goodman, Temple Israel

Josh Goodman wanted to help people who were less fortunate than him. He first learned about all the great work done at the Urban League’s Head Start program when helping his sister, Lizzy, with her mitzvah project three years earlier. She collected more than 1,300 books for the program.

Son of Carolyn and Adam Goodman of Chesterfield, Josh collected school supplies for this agency, which helps low-income families in the St. Louis area and helps educate 3- to 5-year-old children. It serves hundreds of children in four licensed centers. 

Right before school started last year, Josh distributed empty plastic bags with a letter on them, asking neighbors for donations. A week later, he collected more than 100 bags loaded with all sorts of supplies for the kids. His family then went to the center in Jennings to deliver the supplies. “We had a great turnout from the neighborhood. There were tons of bags and every type of school supply you could imagine. It turned out a whole lot better than even I expected,” Josh said.

At his bar mitzvah party, Josh, a student at Parkway Central Middle School, collected even more supplies from his guests. Those items were delivered to the center as well. While there, he visited some classrooms and had the opportunity to read to the children.

Among the items collected were: 154 boxes of crayons, 67 boxes of markers, 28 boxes of colored pencils, 69 boxes of regular pencils, 131 pairs of scissors, 35 bottles of glue, 110 glue sticks, 36 boxes of pens, 18 boxes of erasers, 137 notebooks as well as notebook paper, rulers, chalk, Playdoh, puppets, construction paper and easel paper.

When asked what was the greatest part of doing his mitzvah project, Josh responded by saying, “There were two really special moments. First, I couldn’t believe it when I unloaded all the bags we collected and visually saw how much people cared. Then, when I brought the supplies to the kids and also got to spend some time reading to them, I was able to see their reaction and appreciation. That really was meaningful.”