For a teenager, finding your people can change everything.

This November, 200 Jewish teens from across Ukraine will come together for the Active Jewish Teens Annual Conference 2026.

They will come together at a time when growing up in Ukraine means living with uncertainty and the reality of war. Yet these teenagers are still doing what teenagers do. They are making friends, figuring out who they are, looking for purpose, and imagining the future.

For four days, they will have a chance to simply be together.

We are raising $35,000 to help make this conference possible for 200 Jewish teens.

And every dollar raised will be matched by JCC Beit Dan, Kharkiv Ukraine. Your donation can go twice as far:

About us:

AJT Ukraine connects more than 700 Jewish teens ages 13 to 17 through 18 clubs across Ukraine.

For many of these teens, their local Jewish club is more than an after-school activity. It is where they meet friends, explore their Jewish identity, celebrate traditions, and find people who understand them.

The Annual Conference brings those young people together from across the country.

Some will travel long distances to meet friends they have only known online. Others will see old friends again. They will share meals, learn together, celebrate Shabbat, take part in Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies, and experience Jewish life in a way that feels young, personal, and alive.

And something else happens.

They begin to see themselves not just as participants in their communities, but as people who can help shape them.

At the conference, teens will work together on ideas for their clubs and communities. They will learn how to build a team, organize a project, communicate their ideas, solve problems, and turn something they care about into something real.

One participant came to the conference thinking that Jewish community life was something adults built and managed. He left with a different understanding: he and his friends had a role to play in its future too. That shift matters.

Leadership does not always begin with a big title or a big project. Sometimes it begins when a teenager realizes:

When You Don't Come Home Alone

One teen described what happened after a previous conference in a way that stayed with us. He said that he did not come home alone. He came home connected to other teens from different cities who were also working on their own projects. That connection gave him the strength not to give up.

For another participant, Shabbat became a completely different experience. It was no longer something formal or distant. It was warm, personal, and shared with friends.

These may sound like small moments. They aren't.

Your Gift Makes It Possible.

Your donation will help bring 200 teens together this November and help make participation possible for young people who may need financial assistance.

Your support helps with transportation, accommodation, meals, conference activities, Jewish programming, Shabbat, mentors, materials, and the many practical details that make it possible for teens from communities across Ukraine to be in the same room.

Most importantly, your gift helps ensure that a family's financial situation does not decide whether a teenager gets to be part of this experience.

Four Days Can Lead to Months of Action.

When teens return home, they will bring new friendships, new confidence, and new ideas with them. They will take what they learned back to their local clubs. They will have opportunities to develop projects, strengthen Jewish life in their communities, and work with other teens across Ukraine.

So this isn't simply about getting 200 teenagers to one event. It is about what happens when 200 young people discover that they have a place in their community and a role in shaping its future.

Help Us Reach $35,000. Make a donation today, and if you can, share this campaign with your friends, family, and community.

Your gift can help a Jewish teenager in Ukraine look around a room full of other young people and realize: I belong here.

You can learn more about the project here .