Five North Jersey Teens Spend a Week Rebuilding Homes in North Carolina

The girls installed drywall and tackled trim work on homes destroyed by Hurricane Helene

Teaching our kids the value of community service is important, both to foster their sense of volunteerism, and to help others.

Moved by the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina last fall, five high school students from North Jersey felt inspired to spend their summer helping others.

The five students are:

• Brooke Backer, rising junior at Morris County School of Technology, Morris County

• Abigail Goldberg, rising senior at Golda Och Academy, Essex County

• Gabriella Mammen, rising senior at Livingston High School, Essex County

• Alana Greenstein, rising senior at Livingston High School, Essex County

• Katherine Michalis, rising senior at Livingston High School, Essex County

The girls spent a week in Asheville, North Carolina, as part of a humanitarian service trip organized by TEEEM (The Empathy Equality Entrepreneurship Mission). This was TEEEM’s first-ever domestic humanitarian service trip, and the organization partnered with All Hands and Hearts, a disaster relief organization started by Supermodel Petra Nemcova to help rebuild communities impacted by natural disasters.

Their project focused on rebuilding a basement that had been severely flooded during the hurricane. The students measured, cut, and installed drywall while working around electrical boxes and plumbing. They did repairs on another home, tackling trim work, priming, and painting. Along the way, they put their math skills to use, learned to handle construction tools, and worked alongside site supervisors.

“This was a transformational experience not just for the students, but for all of us,” says Taylor D’Alessio, TEEEM’s executive vice president, who traveled with the group. “These young women chose to spend part of their summer making a difference for families they’d never met. That’s the kind of empathy in action that TEEEM stands for.”