Ten years ago, Professor Jessica Fink went for a run through her Carmel Valley neighborhood and found herself thinking about her son. “Leo was about five,” she recalls. “I remember thinking, he has no idea how good he has it. How do I teach him to give back at this age?”
That question sparked something bigger than she ever imagined: Little Mensches, a community service program for children ages 4 to 8. Co-founded by Fink, along with Judy Nemzer and Vivien Dean who also lead the Shalom Baby program at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla, Little Mensches invites young children and their parents into a life of empathy and action.
“We did not even have a budget,” Jessica says. “We just started calling friends for donations. We thought 25 people might come. Instead, 150 children and their parents showed up. We knew then there was a need.”
In its first decade, Little Mensches has reached hundreds of families. Events include packing school supplies for underserved children, creating activity kits for patients at Rady Children’s Hospital, writing letters to U.S. troops and I.D.F. soldiers, assembling necessity kits for people experiencing homelessness, and more. “These kids are these learning that they matter. That they can help. That they should.” Every event starts with a circle of children where Jessica asks, “‘Can a kid be a mensch?’ They shout back, ‘Yes!’ And they are right. You do not need to be a grown-up to do good.”
Before there was Little Mensches, there was Shalom Baby, founded by Jean Gaylis, a young mother who knew what it felt like to be isolated and alone. “I had nobody,” Jean said. “No family, no friends, and a husband working seven days a week.” She asked: What if no Jewish parent ever had to feel that way again? The answer became Shalom Baby, a beloved program of the Lawrence Family JCC that turns 25 this year. It begins with a thoughtful gift bag for new parents. But the true gift is the connection that follows.
“Shalom Baby helped me find my people,” Jessica Fink shared with GB Magazine. “When I walked into my first meetup with a colicky baby and feeling like a mess, I saw that everyone else was going through it too. It made me feel less alone.”
For many families, Little Mensches plants the seeds of lifelong generosity. After one event, when her son Leo was about 6 years old, he turned to his mom and said, “I just feel like there is so much more to do.” For Fink, it was a moment of deep clarity. “That is when I knew it was working,” she says. “It was not just something we did. It was something he felt.” Years later, Leo is still volunteering at the San Diego Rescue Mission.
To Fink, that is the heart of tikkun olam – repairing the world. “I cannot fix everything,” she says. “But I can help a child feel proud of doing something good. I can teach the next generation to carry that forward.” For Fink, the ultimate goal is simple: to normalize community service so completely that it becomes “just something kids do, like soccer practice or piano lessons.”
To get there, they need support from donors who believe in early childhood as a critical window for shaping values and from philanthropists who understand that big change often starts with small hands. Fink smiles, “And it is true. These kids are building a better world. One mitzvah at a time.”
Support the Next Generation of Givers
To donate or learn more about Little Mensches and Shalom Baby, visit www.bit.ly/LittleMensches
