For as long as I can remember, I have loved visits and phone calls shared with my grandparents as much as I have loved teaching young students in Sunday School.

I have enjoyed volunteering in assisted living homes and day care centers alike, appreciating the unique gifts I received from interacting with people on both ends of the age spectrum.

A few months ago, I was searching through a list of advocacy organizations, and discovered that other people share these values as well. I was excited to learn that intergenerational issues are a field of real political action and concern. At that moment, I knew what I wanted to do with my summer.

For the next five weeks, I will continue to be a participant in the Machon Kaplan Program, a summer internship program operated by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Along with 29 other college students from all over the country, I am spending my summer living in Washington, D.C., interning part-time in a local non-profit organization, and taking classes on Jewish leadership and civil rights. Our goal is to create a Jewish community of our own while also integrating fully in the activist network in the D.C. area.

My internship is at an organization called Generations United (www.gu.org) (GU), that works on advocacy campaigns and intergenerational programming. We work for intergenerational programming because we believe that both the old and the young benefit from interaction with different generations.

We all have something to offer and to learn. I have had extensive experience with volunteering in direct service projects over the years, and while I still recognize its essential importance, I am glad to have the opportunity to explore the other side of community service by engaging in advocacy with GU.

Currently, I am working on composing a fact sheet about the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/09_0331_recovery_summary.pdf), which was passed in April of this year.

The act reauthorizes and expands the nation’s community service programs, including many new intergenerational innovations that allow the young and the old to serve each other and to work together.

One interesting aspect of the Machon Kaplan Program is that it places interns in both Jewish and secular organizations. GU is not Jewish, and while getting to know my coworkers, it quickly became apparent to all of us how Jewish I am!

Talking about my previous experiences, extracurricular endeavors, choice of summer program, and chosen career path, Judaism was an ever-present theme in my explanations about myself.

That being said, I am happy to have the experience of working in a non-Jewish place. Despite its secular identity, in many ways GU operates in accordance with Jewish values. Respecting elders has been a Jewish practice since biblical times, as has the importance of family and community, teaching and learning together. The Reform Movement’s emphasis on the compatibility of secular living and Jewish values, and its strong stand on social action is especially relevant here.

While at first it felt a bit unnerving to be the only Jewish intern, I have come to appreciate how working at GU has enhanced my Jewish identity. And my coworkers seem to enjoy it as well. One of them in particular is very interested in my Judaism and eager to connect with me through it. One day he excitedly informed me about a kosher deli he enjoys, saying, “You really should check it out, you know, if you have a craving for a knish.”

Everyone’s support and considerate curiosity make me feel right at home.

As my first week in D.C. comes to a close, I realize how much I have been enjoying being one of the many interns in an army of commuters wearing office attire and flip-flops at rush hour, walking to work to save the world. Not only did I discover that many people share my desire to live and work in D.C. in the summer, but I found a whole group of individuals who share my passion for intergenerational issues.

I am looking forward to many exciting experiences I am sure to have in the next month and a half. And, in the meantime, I am happy to be doing good work that makes my grandparents kvell.

Susan Landau is a student at Brandeis University and a former student at the Jewish Community Day School.