CAREaVAN

Our CAREaVAN teens will get to work with a variety of nonprofits. By providing a mixture of mitzvah projects, i.e., Boys & Girls clubs, Food Banks, Soup kitchens/homeless shelters, Ronald McDonald House, Rebuilding Together, Habitat for Humanity, or environmental field work, we intend to expose teens to an overview on all the volunteer/community service opportunities that are available to them when they return home.

A benefit at many of these nonprofits is the on-site project coordinator who briefs the teens on the value of their volunteer work and explains why they are doing it and who benefits.

Each year we look to go white water rafting, visit an amusement park, walk around town, shop/sightsee, and

sometimes visit a special attraction unique to a particular city. Additionally, we hold planning session with the teens that allow them to make suggestions of the types of experiences they’d like to have.

Absolutely! We have some great CAREaVAN evening programs that are fun and competitive in nature – sometimes pitting the boys against the girls in Battle of the Sexes, Team Taboo, and/or creative dramatics. We have also attended Comedy clubs or movies, but those decisions will be based on interests.

Wake up around 8am and dress for the day. If it’s a travel day, we bring luggage down to load the bus. We often stay one or two nights in a location. We eat breakfast in the dorms or at the hotel and head out for the days activities. Usually we head straight to a volunteer experience. Lunch and dinner meals are typically held at parks and/or meeting rooms at our residences. Volunteer projects generally last for 2-3 hours.

The afternoon might involve a special entertainment (rafting or amusement park) in the community or heading off to our next city. At times we will have an additional volunteer activity in the afternoon. Some evenings have special programs or outings planned, and there is often an end-of-day recap and reflection along with sharing important details for the next day. Each day there is a group of teens responsible for various tasks to help make sure things run smoothly.

The price for the CAREaVAN 2026 is $2,450.

Price includes all travel fees, accommodations at hotels, dorms or Airbnbs for 10 nights, 3 meals a day, tickets to pre-planned outings or events, and fees associated with the program. Participants will get their own CAREaVAN shirt and other special take-aways.

Kosher Meals are provided throughout the trip. We will have home-cooked prepared food kept in refrigerated or frozen in coolers, and we will do additional shopping along the way as needed.

There will be free time when teens are on their own and will be allowed to purchase their own food without kashrut supervision. In fact, we will have at least one meal where teens will be responsible for themselves.

All food brought on the bus, must be approved dairy or vegetarian.

See last summer’s itinerary for menu ideas.

We plan to travel with a charter bus and a professional driver. We find that the teens enjoy the bus travel. It gives them time to rest, listen to music and interact with new friends. We often travel first thing in the morning or in the afternoon, and try to limit night time driving. Since we go from city to city, some destinations are an hour away where others can be 3-4.

Parents will be asked to donate snacks for the bus. We keep the snacks in the overhead bins so that teens can help themselves. We figure by having snacks on the bus they won’t spend as much when stopping at rest stops. Although, they do buy when there is opportunity.

Over the years we’ve stayed at hotels and hostels. Last year we explored college dorms which was a great way for teens to see various campuses as well. This year we’ll have a mix of everything, including a hostel. Counselors do bed checks at night and are placed between boys and girls rooms. BJE staff often bookends the room groupings. During Shabbat we may stay at a large Airbnb accommodation which allows for easier food prep and relaxation.

Teens will be together throughout the trip. We will have designated ‘work groups’ where teens are divided up into small group of 6-8 to help with loading and unloading luggage and taking coolers off the bus to set up for meals at the parks.

We will be involved in Jewish study and rituals along the way. Jewish study will involve text-based discussions to examine and understand the need and purpose of the mitzvot we will be performing. Some of the learning will be experiential in nature especially designed for high school teens.

Shabbat is time for teens to appreciate life in an inspirational setting. We will not do any traveling on Shabbat.

We dress and prepare for Shabbat as we set aside time from the work week. Friday night and Saturday morning services will be held using creative motifs with teen participation. Havdalah is a special time on CAREaVAN.

Everyone is different, some like to buy souvenirs in cities we visit, others like to purchase pizzas for late night in their rooms. We recommend $150.