I cannot express how you truly make the Passover meal possible to my immediate family…we thank you so much, especially this year which is so financially burdensome for us. You are more than Good People-you are Great People!

—-Linda

Linda’s note is one of many we have received in the past few days as our Passover food coupons have arrived in the homes of people who we have identified as being in need of help with this food-centric holiday.

In addition to our US recipients, more than $20,000 was sent to Israel for the purchase of both food coupons and thousands of boxes of matzah which the Rabbanit Kapach is distributing this week.

Now, if we could just finish our own shopping!

While many of us will be trapped in our kitchens on Monday, April 18, Marvin Wolfert, a fan of our work from Foxboro, Massachusetts will be gearing up for the run of his life. Having qualified for the Boston Marathon, Marvin decided to inject some tzedakah into his grueling effort and has asked friends and family to donate to the Good People Fund in his honor.

We have already received many contributions and want to wish Marvin a quick and safe run to the finish line.

Will he really be able to sit at the Seder table that night?

I want to thank you and Birthday Angels for the great birthday party you and Liat arranged for my 11 year old daughter Anna.

Sorry for my English…

This note was sent to Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg, founder of Birthday Angels, one of our Israel programs that bring joy and happiness to kids whose family might not (for economic or health reasons) be able to provide them with an appropriate celebration. When we visited Israel several weeks ago we met with Ruthie and reminded her about Jeremy’s Circle, another organization we fund which was founded by Pamela Becker and her late husband Jeremy Coleman, before he succumbed (a few years ago) to cancer. Jeremy’s Circle provides support and activities for kids who have a parent or sibling with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. When Ruthie and Pamela spoke, Ruthie offered her help with providing parties for these kids and recently the first party was held. As Pamela shared with us…

The mom (of this birthday girl) has been with us since the beginning. … She notes (in the above letter) that she had just left the hospital following a course of chemo and otherwise would not have had the strength to arrange a party for her daughter. We celebrated her daughter’s last birthday at the event at the ecological farm in Modiin.

These are just the kinds of connections we love to make for all of our programs!

Judy Jaffe, Director of Jewish Learning at Congregation Shomrei Emunah in NJ, called this morning with a problem. Her students were going to be decorating oven mitts later in the afternoon and she really wanted to find a good home for these creations. Could we help?

Within 20 minutes I connected Judy to Dalia Abbott, one of the dedicated social workers at Project Ezra on the Lower East Side. Dalia has many elders still living on their own for whom a new oven mitt, decorated and sent with love from a youngster, would be a welcome kitchen addition.

From the looks of this picture, it appears that the kids had a ball. We know a dozen mitts are on their way to new homes in New York. We can only imagine how many briskets and chocolate cookies they might help lift from the oven!

What a great surprise it was this morning to receive our "Google Alert" for The Good People Fund.

Despite the obvious misspelling in the article we are thrilled to receive such a beautiful review of our work.

Enjoy the article and consider the error just an April Fool’s ploy!

http://sdjewishjournal.com/site/1874/the-fairy-goodmother/

…The first of your baby bottles etc. have gone out the door… 3 Newborns
each having none when they were born. So that’s 18 bottles, nipples, & 3 bottle brushes Having the bottles & brushes means that all we have to do is count them out instead of having to find them, check to see that they’re OK to use & then count them out! Somewhere in & around Seattle there are 3 babies less than a week old eating happily…Thank you again! Bless you for helping them all…

As always,
Jeannie

Jeannie Jaybush is a founder of Seattle’s Baby Corner which serves as a resource for local social services who deal with families (with few economic resources) that have a new baby and cannot afford many of the items needed to help with caring for a new infant. From time to time we like to stock Jeannie’s shelves with items we know will help those families. In the past we have donated dozens and dozens of nursing bras. It seemed only fair that the Good People Fund give some help to the Moms who choose to bottle feed! So – 60 dozen bottles and 360 nipple brushes have arrived in Seattle to hopefully make for some very content newborns!