Princeton NJ Non-Profit Press Releases

16 Year Old Princeton Girl to Receive NJ Govenor's Jefferson Youth Community Service Award

(PRINCETON, New Jersey – 05/23/2013) On Saturday, June 8^th, 2013, 16 year old, Amani Noor Ahmed, founder of Eleven Points and her co-founders, Dean Alamleh and Zain Bhayat will receive the  NJ State Governor’s Jefferson Youth Community Service Award in recognition of their work to alleviate hunger, homelessness and poverty. While the United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we also suffer from significant issues of poverty. Nationwide, 49 million Americans, including 16 million children struggle to put food on the table and over half a million people experience homelessness around the country. In New Jersey, approximately 10% of our population is hungry i.e. they do not know where their next meal is coming from – approximately 50% of the hungry in New Jersey are children.

Amani Ahmed, a resident of Princeton who is a sophomore at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart conceived the idea for Eleven Points in the fall of 2012. Together with Dean Alamleh, a sophomore at Robbinsville High School and Zain Bhayat , a freshman at South Brunswick High School, Amani co-founded the organization to bring together young Muslim and Jewish people to make a difference in this world. Eleven Points is the sum of the six points on the Star of David and the five points often found on stars in Islamic calligraphy.  Amani states, “The founders of Eleven Points believe that working together around our shared values of community service and assisting those in need will help to build bridges of understanding between young people of the Islamic and Jewish faiths. Our vision is for Eleven Points to become a national movement sparking interfaith dialogue around the country. I am currently looking for a few young Jewish leaders to partner with us in our quest to impact change locally and eventually nationally.”

Since its inception, Eleven Points has carried out 2 successful projects to benefit the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and Homefront. Before the youth groups begin their community service projects, they play a few games to break down barriers and get to know each other as they come together to help their communities. Eleven Points projects thus far have included the following:

- The first Eleven Points project was sponsored by the Princeton University Office of Muslim Life and the Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick. In the fall of 2012, a group of young Muslims and Jewish people gathered at the Anshe Emeth Temple to assemble 500 hygiene kits for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. 

-  In the spring of 2013, the youth from the Princeton University Office of Muslim Life and the Anshe Emeth Temple prepared 300 lunch bags and assembled 200 hygiene kits for Homefront. The necessary items were collected by both, the Muslim and Jewish youth  from their communities. (Photo attached herewith). 

 - Homefront has invited Eleven Points to participate in their Homefront Run/Walk for Hope on June 2^nd, 2013 at ETS in Princeton, New Jersey.

The founders of Eleven Points are currently working on their schedule of activities for the fall of 2013.