I want a Shabbos home
Come for a full table, a place to sleep when arranged, honest questions, quiet time, and people who are glad you came.
Reach OutA Chabad-rooted Jewish home in Toms River
A place to land, exhale & belong.
Shabbos and Yom Tov. Real family. Honest questions. Practical support toward the next step—without pressure to become someone else.
Tishrei 5787 · a look back
The next frontier is in our own backyard.
A year ago sixteen boys slept in our house for Rosh Hashanah. This year seventy people came to a campus in West Virginia, and forty came back to dance on Simchas Torah. Photos, video, and what we learned.
- boys in our house, Rosh Hashanah 5786
- 16
- people in West Virginia, Rosh Hashanah 5787
- 70
- in one sukkah for Simchas Torah
- 40
Welcome to Rosh Hashanah at the Bunker of Light — High View, West Virginia
Which door is yours?
Start with the kind of help you need.
I'm worried about someone
Parents, rabbanim, mentors, educators, and clinicians can reach out about a teen or young adult who needs a safe family address.
Get in TouchI want to help
Sponsor a Shabbos, cook, give a ride, make a professional connection, or help create the next safe landing place.
Support the MissionOur story
It started with one open door.
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The need became impossible to ignore.
One night outside a kosher restaurant in Lakewood, Yosef Shidler saw young people who did not seem to have an address of their own. He and Sarah had always kept an open home. Now that instinct had a clearer mission.
02
They made room—literally.
In 2019, the Shidlers bought a home on Bunker Hill Drive in Toms River and expanded it around a simple promise: their family would have a home, and young people who needed one would have room too.
03
The weekend became an address.
Shabbos is where many relationships begin. During the week, the same open door can mean a meal, a listening ear, help with documents or work, a ride to an appointment, or a warm connection to professional care.
04
The house ran out of room. The mission did not.
Sixteen boys slept here for Rosh Hashanah 5786. By Pesach it was twenty-five, in two houses. When the block could not hold us, the Gross family opened a campus in West Virginia: seventy people for Rosh Hashanah 5787, forty back to dance on Simchas Torah. The next frontier, it turns out, is in our own backyard. Read the whole story →
"Sometimes the journey back home begins with finding a home away from home."
Real light, every single day
Something real is happening here.
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Beds — at capacity nearly every week, all by word of mouth
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Shabbosim a year — separate boys' & girls' weekends, with rabbinic guidance
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Around the table this past Pesach Seder
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Fluffy doodles who find whoever needs them most
Lately
This is what busy looks like.
Two Yomim Tovim on a campus in West Virginia, and the Thursday nights in the backyard in between. Click any photo.
September 2026 · High View, West Virginia
Rosh Hashanah 5787
Seventy people on a private campus. The truck, the doodles, the bunks, the hall before Yom Tov.
October 2026 · High View, West Virginia
Simchas Torah 5787
Forty in one sukkah with bochurim from Crown Heights. Every guy got an aliyah; the Torah was read outside the dorm.
Thursday nights · Toms River
Cholent & Chill
A fire pit, a keyboard, a guitar, string lights and a pot of cholent in the backyard.
Community impact
The person comes before the program.
Bunker of Light is a Chabad-rooted Jewish family home in Toms River serving teens and young adults from Lakewood, Ocean County, Monsey, Crown Heights and beyond — the kids who get labeled "at risk" or "off the derech" before anyone asks what they are carrying. Shabbos is the heart of it, but the relationship does not end after Havdalah: a weekly table, a backyard fire on a Thursday night, a Yom Tov on a campus in West Virginia, and during the week a meal, a listening ear, practical advocacy, or a warm connection to a licensed clinician. We are not a clinical facility or a residential program. We are the reason to come back: a place to belong, someone who notices when you are gone, and someone who does not start every conversation with what is wrong with you.
In their own words
What it feels like to find your place.
Guests and community professionals describe the same thing in different ways: this feels less like a program and more like a home.
When you walk in the door, your shoulders kind of drop.
I left feeling like I had a new family—an extra place whenever I need it.
It feels way homier than going to a regular Shabbaton. It’s like being in a family.
I wasn’t floating anymore. It felt a little bit like a lifeboat.
You don’t need to be a specific person. You can ask your questions and try to get answers.
Sometimes the journey back home begins with finding a home away from home.
Quotes are lightly edited for readability. Guest names stay private unless the speaker chooses otherwise.
The vibe
Real talk: what this place is.
What we are
A safe place to hang out for Shabbos or Yom Tov — food, friends, and open conversations about Judaism without judgment. You can be yourself here.
What we are not
A party house. No drugs, no weed, no hard liquor. It's about respect, community, and having a place where everyone belongs.
Sponsor a Shabbos
Giving here is tangible.
Every dollar becomes a seat, a meal, a conversation, a connection.
$100
Shabbos for One Person
Cover one guest for a full Shabbos — meals, a bed, and the feeling that someone planned for them.
Sponsor$180
Part of a Shabbos Meal
Help fill the table with home-cooked food and an unhurried family experience.
Sponsor$1,000
A Full Week of Shabbos
Underwrite the cost of one full Shabbos at the Bunker — every guest, every meal, every bed.
Sponsor$5,000
A Month of Activities
Power a full month of programming — trips, activities, rides, and the week-round open door.
SponsorWhat we do
What happens after the welcome.
No two people need the same thing. Bunker offers relationship-based community support and helps each person move toward the right next step.
A Shabbos & Yom Tov Home
A full table, separate weekends for boys and girls, a bed when arranged, and room to participate at your own pace.
A Safe Place to Land
When capacity, safety, and circumstances allow, short-term hospitality can create breathing room while a next step is arranged.
A Listening Ear
Someone who answers, listens without panic or judgment, and stays present through a hard moment.
Practical Advocacy
Help with documents, job searches, appointments, transportation, and the small steps that make stability possible.
Connections to Care
Warm referrals to licensed clinicians, schools, recovery programs, rabbanim, and other trusted resources.
Community That Continues
Friendships, check-ins, events, trips, and a place to return to after the first Shabbos.
Jewish Connection
Honest questions, Torah and farbrengens when wanted, and space to build an authentic relationship with Hashem.
A Real Family Home
The Shidler family—and the doodles—make the welcome personal. This is a home, not an institution.
Watch
See why the Bunker feels like home.
Upcoming events
What's happening at the Bunker.
Help one open door become a lasting next step.
Your support fills the table, keeps the guest rooms ready, and gives Yosef and Sarah the flexibility to respond when a young person needs a meal, a ride, an advocate, or simply somewhere safe to exhale.
Support the Bunker