The Tribe

Dear Families!

Jookender is delighted to continue serving The Tribe program during 2019-2020. This program teaches children in grades Kindergarten – 3rd grade good values through games and activities with other families.

Examples of the Jewish values to be taught include: telling the truth, being respectful to your parents, acting with courage, showing kindness to animals, and so on. This program will create lifelong memories for your family, introduce you to other families who live near you, and provide opportunities for Jookender families to participate in the new and exciting activities during the year. The program lasts 10 months, during which, your tribe meets and create fascinating things together! It’s for you to choose which activities to attend and which not – just like you always do it, when it comes to Jookender, but it’ll be helpful, if you can commit to attend at least 25% of all tribe meetings.

New or returning – we need your info again. But you will only need to register once for the entire 10 months length of the program, and this will give you the ability to sign up easily for all subsequent activities, without entering your information over and over again. Last year, we had a limit of 77 participating families. This year – we’re not sure yet, but we hope, at 30-50 families will be able to participate. First come, first serve – so don’t delay your registration until it’s too late!

If you followed our programming last year, you must have learned that there were many other perks for the Tribe participants, included, but not limited to lower pricing to the favorite Jookender activities, such as a Theater play or LEGO outing.

We do not know our perks for this year yet, but we’re sure, it’ll be an excitement!

The program is still free to sign up and attend. Once we learn how many families max can be registered, we will announce it openly and possibly close our registration by then. We will notify your family later in August if you successfully admitted to the program.

How the program works:

• You fill out a brief, free online application.
• Upon acceptance to the program (not automatic), and based on your preferences and geographical location, Jookender will assign you to a “Tribe” (Team)
• The number of families per tribe may vary, but we suggest not less than 6 and not more than 12. If for some reason, the original tribe doesn’t work well to you, you may switch the tribe during the year, by informing/asking permission (from) your previous and next group leaders.
• Each Tribe will choose a Leader – a Parent or a guardian 18+. If a 15+ year-old sibling wants to volunteer to help the Leader, we will also ensure they receive Community Volunteer Hours for participation. The tribe cannot be completed without a leader and will be dismissed, if such is not found by the time program begins (in September).
• Leaders will participate in a brief training with Sasha. They will receive an optional curriculum for 10 gatherings, one gathering per month. The curriculum is made up of games and activities for families with kids in K-3rd grade. It’s solely for your tribe to decide whether you want to meet for this gathering in one another’s homes, or stay at the same location for all 10 classes, or host the gatherings at any local Russian school program, park, or a museum. Tribes are encouraged to meet on Saturday nights or Sundays, and each Tribe will determine the times in advance so you can save the dates.
• We will be creating a chat room for the leaders on Facebook, so they could share their concerns, provide some feedback, make valuable suggestions regarding the future of this program, or upload pictures and videos – necessary for the next year programming.
• Supply materials for the lessons will be partially provided and partially purchased by families. Nothing extraordinary is needed – just regular school stuff, such as papers, markers, scissors, and glue. Holiday-related stuff can be requested from Jookender at least 3 weeks before your gathering.
• No matter where you live – you may join as long as we could create a tribe in your area. We no longer “share” the tribes with any other partner – all tribes are kept under Jookender Supervision.
• Once registration complete, there is no other possibility to join the program during the year. Only those registered to the program will have access to all programming opportunities. So, don’t delay – register now to ensure your participation!