Since I picked up the sad message from my voicemail last night, so many images have flashed through my mind. The message was short – Clara Hammer, known, no doubt, by thousands of schoolchildren here in America as the Chicken Lady, has died, just weeks shy of what would have been her 100th birthday.

Clara was a legend. Her tzedakah story was shared in classrooms, news articles, pulpits…just about every possible venue you could imagine….And what a story it was. Many years ago, while visiting her butcher, Mr. Hacker, Clara witnessed him handing over a bag of chicken bones and skin to a young girl. Commenting to him that the girl must own many cats, the butcher replied that the bag’s contents were actually for the family to use to prepare a Shabbat cholent. He went on to explain that the father and mother were not well and had not worked in a very long time. Though he had extended credit to them, he could no longer do so. Clara was appalled that anyone would have to eat such garbage and instructed Mr. Hacker to give the girl two chickens and a half kilo of chopped meat weekly so that they could have a proper Shabbat. No one was to know the identity of the donor.

What began with that one selfless act in 1969, continued (albeit with the help of her family in the past few years) until her death yesterday. When I last visited Clara about 13 months ago, it was clear that the fire and passion that had once prevailed was diminishing. The scene was the same – an apartment where pictures of dozens of family members (I’ve lost count of how many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and I think even one or two great-great grandchildren, she had) vied for space with the many, many chickens – stuffed, musical, dancing, given to her by admirers from all over the world. They, in turn, shared space with the many beautiful certificates and awards Clara earned from her mitzvah work. Clara’s advanced "computerized" records still sat nearby – file boxes filled with index cards, each listing donors’ names, addresses and every one of their donations. A donation to Clara’s Chicken Fund got you a beautifully handwritten thank you letter – even with no professional fund-raising training, Clara knew how to get you back for "recurring donations." On the table were that week’s bills from the famous butcher, Mr. Hacker, and we heard a recounting of the thousands of shekels she had sent him for the past month’s food he handed out on her behalf. Still the proper hostess, we were treated to freshly-squeezed orange juice (from Clara’s local "juiceman"), delicious roasted Israeli almonds and a plate of Bisli. But advancing years were taking their toll and no longer was Clara singing or dancing as she always did, and that was not lost on me as I said good-bye, perhaps for the last time.

And so – this Friday morning as many are preparing for Shabbat, I envision a beautiful woman, now in some other space perhaps, continuing her work and fulfilling her vision that no one should go without a proper Shabbat meal. Rest in peace, Clara. You have left a legacy that has touched more people than we will ever know.

For most parents nothing quite compares to those special moments when you tuck the kids into bed, snuggle beside them and read from their favorite storybooks. It is a magical time when everything in the house slows down and quiet is about to prevail.

Some parents do not get to experience this special time. It could be a work schedule that interferes or perhaps reading is not something that comes easily and they are embarrassed to show their children that they never learned to read themselves. But-as Pat Brisson a New Jersey-based children’s author and librarian learned, there is another situation which keeps parents from engaging in this special activity. For parents who are serving time in prison and away from their children this special ritual is impossible to carry out.

In 2003 Pat approached the staff at a local women’s prison about possible volunteer opportunities and they mentioned a reading program that would allow the women to bond with their children by recording books and sending the cassette and book to their child(ren) at home.

What a perfect match! Pat has been involved in Project Storybook since that time and when we spoke with her she described how meaningful it was for these women to connect with their kids in this way. An initial grant covered the purchase of the cassette recorders and volunteers work with Pat during the recording sessions. Somehow, whenever there was a need for some modest sum of money to buy more tapes, it almost miraculously appeared. We asked Pat if we could purchase a supply of books but she assured us that there was a huge inventory of books already available. What we could provide, though, were Spanish language books, which many of the women would read if they were available.

What a simple request! In ten minutes we had selected and ordered many new titles from the Amazon website and Pat just wrote with the following update…

Dear Naomi,

Pat

A week before Purim we had a call from Judy Kuper Jaffe, Director of Education at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. Judy wanted to introduce a new activity at the upcoming Purim carnival–guess how many jelly beans were in a big jar. For $1 a chance, the winner took home the jelly beans but the money raised would go to tzedakah. Did we have any suggestions for where the proceeds could go and really connect her students with other kids?

It took about 30 seconds to suggest that the jelly bean tzedakah would be perfect to underwrite an end-of-school party for the kids at Beit Hayeled in Israel. I explained to Judy that Beit Hayeled is a safe haven for kids who have been removed from their homes by the courts due to abuse. Yitz Feigenbaum and Irit Zucker provide the kids with all of the love and support they could possibly need and a party complete with pizza and ice cream would be a great way to "connect" her students with the Beit Hayeled kids. To top it off, we even offered to match (or raise) whatever they collected just to be sure that a great party would result.

The school’s check has arrived and we are looking forward to adding our share to make this special party possible.

It is not often that we can arrange a face-to-face meeting between one of our good people and some of the many religious schools that send us their tzedakah dollar bills and change. For our Israel programs this is even harder to do. But, when Alison Bermant, a teacher at North Shore Synagogue told us that she was going to Israel and wanted to meet Darla Oz, founder of House to House, we quickly made the connection.

We have mentioned Darla’s work with very poor people in Jerusalem many times. A few months ago we asked several religious schools if they would create personal birthday cards for the Survivors Darla was involved with and Alison’s class was among the first to send a beautiful set of cards. Now that Alison was going to Israel she wanted to meet Darla face-to-face and deliver a second batch of cards as well as some much-need tzedakah.

As you can see from the picture, Darla and Alison did meet and soon after Darla was putting those dollar bills and coins to immediate use when she bought new clothes for an elderly man who she recently discovered living alone in sub-standard conditions.

Talk about an immediate return on your tzedakah investment!

Yasher koach to Alison and her North Shore students!

A few days ago we shared with our readers the story of the student activists in Quincy, MA. and how our tzedakah investment helps them achieve their tikkun olam goals of changing the world. Read on to see how our gifts of stamps and office supplies were received. No question that this is one of the "biggest bangs for the tzedakah buck" that we get!

Dear Naomi,

YES!!!!!

The box from Staples arrived promptly, containing EVERYTHING on our Wish list. The box was promptly opened and the tools it contained were put into use immediately as the kids made posters for spreading the word inside the school about this year’s projects: Haiti relief and homes/families for Ethiopian Orphans. Letters were also written to communicate with our 2009-2010 partners in these efforts: Partners in Health; St. Boniface Haiti Foundation and Selamta/Ethiopia. It has been hectic at Broad Meadows Middle School since the arrival of all that colorful, artistic effort and letter writing action.

Before the box was opened, I asked grade 8 leaders Julie Bloomer, Matt Baldwin and Brandi Isaacs to explain to the after school activism group why we were getting box mail. Brandi in particular told of the long history between The Quincy Kids and Danny, Naomi, Ziv and The Good People Fund. Brandi is quite aware of the history. I was very proud of her telling. I added a few stories as well. The students were humbled.

Then, the boxes were opened.

The tools inside the Staples boxes and USPS envelope were greeted with cheers as Matt and Brandi carefully removed them one by one. I’ve never seen envelopes and white out get cheers before, but now I can say it did happen. Out came markers, highlighters, pens, stamps, poster board, and more. Yippees and oh yeahs filled the air. Each tool’s potential energy was cheered. Then a surprise was removed from the box: candy and pretzels! For the remainder of the 90 minute meeting, the room was filled with the sounds of kids working in groups, tools in hand and candy in mouths. When I walked around the classroom admiring the letters and posters, several students told me they were thinking about how lucky Broad Meadows Middle School is. Broad Meadows invites students to try to change the world each school year. My favorite was this: "Strangers send office tools so students can spread the word inside and outside the school that change is possible."

You will soon receive a thank you from the Broad Meadows students. In the meantime, please accept my sincerest thanks for igniting a frenzy of awareness raising on paper and on poster board.

Thank you so very much for your unwavering belief in, encouragement and support of The Quincy Kids who are dedicated to improving children’s lives far away every school year. Without your help, that goal would be much more difficult to achieve.

Gratefully,

Ron Adams, teacher advisor
The Quincy Kids: A School for Iqbal
and
Operation: Day’s Work-USA

With the last hamantaschen crumbs finally swept away, we knew what would come next….Passover, matzah and all that goes with it.

Nothing felt better today than making arrangements to send thousands of dollars to the Rabbanit Kapach’s "matzah man" in Israel. Though we have lost track of the actual number of years, we suspect that she has been distributing her Pesach food packages for close to 50 years and if you were to count the number of people in Jerusalem who have benefited, we believe that the number must be high into six figures, perhaps greater. Matzah, oil, nuts and more…the basics for a sweet holiday that is so centered on food that without this help so many people would not experience its joy.

Along with this very special tzedakah "investment", we also completed arrangements for the purchase of thousands of dollars of supermarket scrip which will go directly to dozens of needy families in Israel as well as to several Holocaust survivors here in the United States.

It was really a good day in the tzedakah business. Now-if only I could find someone to do my shopping…