Today, three nonprofit organizations in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley are in a better position to help people in need—thanks to the remarkable efforts of the Aspen Teen Giving Circle.
All three organizations recently received grants of $10,000 in funding raised by the teens. But what makes the work of these teenagers exceptional is that their Giving Circle—an idea born in Aspen’s Jewish community—is multifaith, with Jewish and Christian high schoolers working together to raise funds and choose the organizations that will benefit from their grants.
“Today, I think it is just so important to educate teens about what it looks like to have a productive conversation even if you have different beliefs,” says Alexis Berger, Teen Giving Circle co-founder. “We learned how to talk to each other and see each other’s perspectives.”
“I love that we integrated both faiths and had Jewish kids and Christian kids spending time together,” adds Anna Dangler, co-founder of the Teen Giving Circle. “When we started, I didn’t know that much about the Jewish religion, and this has helped me learn.”
The Aspen Teen Giving Circle took root after conversations between two adults, but the teens have ensured that it has succeeded in ways even those adults might not have anticipated.
‘This idea came from the kids’
The idea for a teen giving circle first surfaced in a discussion between Social Entrepreneur and Venture Philanthropist Laura Lauder and Cori Berger, mother of Alexis. Cori brought the concept home to Alexis who was a high school sophomore at the time.
“My mom and I both thought it was a great idea, but we realized there are not a ton of Jewish teens in Aspen,” recalls Alexis. “So I asked, ‘Could we make it a bigger group and include Christian teens?’”
Alexis’ good friend Anna Dangler is the daughter of Dan Dangler, the Young Life Area Director of the Aspen Valley, a youth ministry for Christian students in middle and high school. Through their daughters, the Berger and Dangler families had become friends. When Cori brought the idea of a giving circle to Dan and asked him to serve as a facilitator, he could immediately see an opportunity to help young people understand the importance of philanthropy at the same time they explored shared values rooted in Christian and Jewish traditions.
“What excited me was that this would give us the opportunity to talk about the differences and commonalities of our faiths,” he says. “We could sit around the table and have these conversations in a friendly and respectful way, which translates to whatever you do in life.”
When the founding group approached Rabbi Sima Oster, assistant rabbi at Aspen Jewish Congregation, she jumped at the opportunity to expand programming for Jewish teens.
“This idea came from the kids, and that is incredibly meaningful and beautiful,” she says. “To facilitate the empowerment of teens and to help them learn about the values that are embedded in their faith communities is incredible, and Dan has been a wonderful partner.”
In fall of 2024, when Alexis was a junior and Anna was a senior, the Aspen Teen Giving Circle formally launched. In its first year, the students met monthly, raised $30,000, and made donations to three grassroots nonprofits, supporting domestic violence response, food access, and childcare for families in crisis.
At the end of the year, Anna moved on to college where, she says, her experience in the Giving Circle helped her navigate her freshman year: “Having knowledge of Judaism helped if there was a conversation about beliefs,” she says. “I had more knowledge and personal experience.”
In its second year, the student-led group and its facilitators kept going strong with as many as 30 students meeting during the school year. Among those students is Mia Mottier, who joined the group through Young Life when it was founded.
“In the times we are living in, there is so much division in so many communities,” says Mia. “To bring people together who have different upbringing is amazing and it has even opened the minds of the community who have heard about what we are doing.”
‘What these kids did was an inspiration’
The lessons students have learned from the Aspen Teen Giving Circle go far beyond the classroom.
They learned about the shared values of their religions in discussions that were respectful without judgment.
They learned how to best raise funds by building personal connections and explaining their goals to family members, friends, and community supporters.
They learned about the needs in their community. To that end, they worked with Aspen Community Foundation which provided a list of regional nonprofits and set up meetings with nonprofit leaders to discuss their organizations’ missions and impact.
They learned to reach a consensus about which nonprofits they would choose as recipients of their fundraising. In a group where everyone is emotionally invested in the mission, it is no surprise that sometimes consensus was not automatic.
“We had debates, but we never yelled,” says Mia. “We might have talked loudly, but we never argued. We were always respectful of other opinions, and we kept an open mind.”
- In the end, they picked three nonprofits where they felt their donations of $10,000 would have most impact. With their help:
Access After School will be able to continue offering young people a safe place to spend time after school and during the summer while their parents are working. - Recovery Resources will have additional funding to serve people struggling with addiction.
- Older adults who may have difficulty getting to a grocery store can now count on home-delivered meals from Valley Meals and More.
Perhaps most important, the students of the Aspen Teen Circle learned about what they had in common—whether they grew up with the value of tithing or the value of tzedakah.
“The stereotype of teens is that they are selfish, lazy, and have no motivation, but these kids are the opposite of that,” Dan says. “What these kids did was an inspiration.”
“At a time in our world where there is so much hate, these students from different faiths came together and learned that we have more in common than divides us,” adds Rabbi Sima. “I hope they will carry that with them the rest of their lives.”