On a cold, wintery, Sunday night over 20 teens gathered inside the Stamford Chabad Center to participate in the "Top 10 for 2010" idea fair. The fair, planned and run by our local Teen Board with the help of our Coordinator Sora, consisted of close to 10 booths to help teen volunteers bring exciting new activities and games to their friends at home. The booths ranged from Smoothie Making to homemade Hand Puppetsand Arts & Crafts. Also present at the fair was occupational therapist, Jill Sherman, who demonstrated several tools and games to make a child feel more comfortable and at ease.

We were shown some very clever toys, one of which was called a, “Rice Glove.” You take a latex glove and fill it with rice, and tie it off at the top. It's a great way to relieve stress and you can also use it to play catch. Another great idea is to take a Ziploc bag and fill it with hair gel; it is exciting and had a super cool texture.

Not only were we able to take home these wonderful ideas but I also learned some great smoothie recipes that are quick andeasy and also taste great! I talked with Ali Pomerance, one of the volunteers who was present atthe fair, and she said, “This program was so great, I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to take what I learned and use with my friend.” All in all the idea fair was a great success and I know that these ideas will be very helpful for any volunteer to use in 2010!