Michael Siler, Congregation Shaare Emeth

Michael did a variety of projects dealing with the issue of hunger. Son of Michelle and Patrick Siler of west St. Louis County, he undertook those projects on a local, national and world level. 

In his bar mitzvah speech, Michael explained that he became interested in hunger after a middle school trip last year to Heifer International Ranch in Arkansas. Heifer International is an organization that gives animals and plants to impoverished communities.

At the ranch, Michael spent 24 hours at  “Global Village,” which is about an acre of land with seven houses spread throughout. Each is a replica of a different impoverished community.

“We were split up and sent to a certain house,” Michael explained. “Each group got a small basket with some supplies. At our house our meal was hot water with some bits of rice and vegetables floating in it. 

”After that I realized that world hunger was worse than I thought,” he continued, adding that he then went about trying to fix one of America’s biggest problems: Waste. On average, America wastes about 40 percent of its food every year. 

“What I’ve been doing is helping St. Louis Bread Company deliver their leftover baked goods to the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry about once a month,” he said. “I also help bring and serve food once a month to the homeless men that come to St. Peter and Paul Church in Soulard. One weekend I did two projects. I participated in the Crop Hunger Walk, which donates food to the hungry. I also helped pack hundreds of meals with a lot of other people at John Burroughs High School on St. Louis World Food Day.” 

Michael also took roughly 10 percent of any money he got over an eight-month period and set it aside for his main mitzvah project. His goal is to raise $500 to buy a heifer for a community in Appalachia. 

Michael, a student a Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School, continues to bring St. Louis Bread Company leftovers to the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry and serve meals at St. Peter and Paul Church.  Combining the money he had previously saved with the donations and gifts he received for his bar mitzvah, Michael was able to donate a goat as well as a heifer to Heifer International. And, on Oct. 10, he plans to pack meals at the 2014 St. Louis World Food Day event and hopes his friends will join him.

“I am not just helping to do my part in fixing world hunger, but I am also trying to raise as much awareness as I can,” Michael said. “I still do my mitzvah projects even after my bar mitzvah. It’s something I actually wanted to do.”