A New Appreciation For My Extended Family

By David Goldman

The Five Towns is blessed with events and fundraisers almost every week. I’ve been to many of them. But last Wednesday night, at the 4th Annual Achdus BBQ in the Goldstein backyard, something shifted for me.

I walked in thinking I already understood what My Extended Family (MYEF) does. After all, my son volunteers as a Big Brother in the program. He’s told me about the boy he spends time with, about homework help, birthday parties, and dinners together. At first, he thought he was giving. But what surprised him was how much he has gotten back. Watching him grow through this role gave me respect for the program. That night gave me a deeper appreciation of just how critical this organization is for our community.

I took for granted the family I was raised in: the stability, the trust, the feeling of belonging. Because I had that myself, I never fully understood how much it matters when a child doesn’t. Until now, I didn’t appreciate the way MYEF steps into that gap, and how family itself sits at the core of who we are and of our success as productive members of Klal Yisrael. Stability, trust, belonging, safety. These are such basic ideas, so easily taken for granted, yet so foundational to anyone’s life.

Every week, more than 100 children here in the Five Towns walk into MYEF. They find a hot dinner waiting. They get help with schoolwork. They celebrate milestones. And they spend time with a Big Brother or Big Sister who shows up just for them.

The boys’ program runs at Netzach HaTorah, where Rabbi Yitzchok Yurman, menahel of the yeshiva, put it this way: “We have seen first-hand the incredible impact My Extended Family is having on these children, and it is a privilege for our mesivta to once again host the Five Towns boys’ weekly program to share in that mission.”

The girls’ program runs with the help of more than 50 TAG students who give their warmth and consistency each week. They have built a space where children without the steady presence of two parents can feel what so many of us barely notice: stability, security, and belonging.

After the BBQ, Rabbi Moshe Bender, S’gan Rosh HaYeshiva of Darchei Torah, described it beautifully, “When Klal Yisrael stands together, there is no such thing as invisible pain. What I witnessed was our Five Towns community turning hidden struggles into visible support.”

Standing there, I felt the same. The food and the atmosphere were there, but what stayed with me was the sense of community, people showing up for children who cannot always count on someone being there.

Rabbi Yoseph Vigler, founder of My Extended Family, reminded us that “This gathering has become a testament to what happens when a community refuses to look away. Each year it grows stronger because the need is real and the response is even greater. For some children, that response has been nothing short of life-saving.”

I left that night realizing this isn’t just another worthy organization. What looks on the outside like an after-school program is, in truth, transforming the lives of kids in the most meaningful way.