Alex Benditt, a freshman at Shawnee Mission East High, says what he learned most from the mission is just how grateful he should be.

“I’m grateful for the safety of my neighborhood. I realize now how much worse it is in the real world outside of my little suburban bubble,” Alex says.

And while working for hours at a community garden and on urban farm was far from easy, Alex said these experiences affected him in a deep way.

“The trip has changed me into a more aware person,” Alex says. “I always knew I was privileged, but seeing many people live in bad places really changed me.”

Alex said the experience also changed him as a Jew. He described the singing on Shabbat – of songs he didn’t know – as a highlight of the trip.

“Something about the sense of community and closeness of the moment stuck out to me,” he says.

Overall, Alex says the trip “changed how I view the ways to enact my Judaism… and I’ve started appreciating the Jewish traditions more.”