November 18, 2008

Hanukkah in the Big Easy!

A few weeks ago I began a conversation with Orlie Prince and her family – Hanukkah was coming and the family wanted to do something more meaningful than exchanging gifts – they wanted to help other people. As Orlie shared with me:

This year Chanukah is all about giving for us. We feel very fortunate to have as much as we do and feel even more fortunate that we are in a position to help others during this holiday season.

They realized that the city of New Orleans had not yet recovered from the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina and chose to travel there for a week of mitzvahs and Hanukkah celebration. How could we help?

Realizing the difficulties that arise in doing any volunteer work during the Christmas-New Year break, I introduced Orlie to Samantha Lakin, a Teach for America volunteer working with a special education class in one of the area’s poorest neighborhoods. Sam is not only a dynamic young woman, we know from firsthand experience just how creative and inspired she is when it comes to this type of mitzvah work. There was no doubt that connecting Sam to Orlie would produce special opportunities for everyone.

Within about 10 days, all arrangements have been made and the Prince family, including Rachel and Tamar, their two daughters, have made a generous commitment to help Sam’s class in whatever ways are identified by Sam and her fellow teacher. Rachel and Tamar have written letters to the class and even shopped for special DVD’s that Samantha has requested. And, as often happens, Rachel’s public school teacher wants to establish a relationship with Samantha’s class as well… mitzvah goreret mitzvah… one mitzvah surely leads to another!

We are excited about this connection and say Yasher Koach to the Prince family for their generosity and their intention to make Hanukkah a truly "giving" holiday.

November 17, 2008

Somethin’s Cookin’

In our November 10 diary entry, Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah, we wrote about three religious/day schools that joined together to make it possible for a new school in the flood-ravaged Mississippi Gulf Coast to purchase overhead projectors for six of their classrooms. While we are waiting for the projectors to be delivered, one of the religious schools, Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, wanted to do some more mitzvahs with their tzedakah (these kids are very impressive tzedakah-collectors under the guidance of their director, our good friend, Vinny Green).

By the strangest of coincidences, it seems that Libby Reichman who heads up Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Israel (http://www.bigbrothers.org.il), had a special request which the Wilshire Boulevard kids were more than glad to fulfill…one of the "littles" who is part of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program is "Shani," a 12 year-old Russian immigrant. Shani and her parents came to Israel several years ago but her father was very abusive and eventually jailed, leaving Shani and her Mom completely isolated and in despair-with no family and very few friends to help them. Mom and daughter struggle in many, many ways, both economically and with health issues, and up until recently have been living in extreme circumstances in a very poor apartment with few comforts. Through the efforts of several different people, Shani and her Mom have moved to a fresh, bright apartment and Libby felt that a brand new stove would be a very special gift for this family that has never had anything new at all.

So, with the help of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple students a new stove will be purchased for the family AND the students will also send several of their favorite recipes (written in both Hebrew and English) so Shani and her Mom can not only try out their new oven but also know that they are not alone, that there are generous kids in California who wanted to make their lives a little bit better.

Yasher koach to the WBT school…awesome tzedakah work!

November 14, 2008

Hotel as Home

Travelers who visited Jerusalem many years ago will remember the famous Diplomat Hotel where luxurious suites and beautiful views of the surrounding hillsides could catch your breath. As often happens to hotels that are not properly maintained, the Diplomat lost its luster, fell into disrepair and eventually became an absorption center where (mostly) Russian olim (immigrants) settled in single rooms that still offered those amazing views, but not much else. The elderly residents were grateful for the chance to live in Israel and somehow overlooked the cramped quarters where they had but four walls and a bathroom in which to spend their days.

Life for these people-many were formerly teachers and doctors and professors and scientists before they left the FSU for better times in Israel-changed dramatically when a former Canadian named Alice Jonah happened to offer to fill in as a volunteer for a friend who was an activity director at the "hotel-turned-home". It turned out that the friend never returned to the Diplomat and Alice became an integral part of life there. Working first as a volunteer and then as an employee, Alice turned this little village into a caring community. She instituted an ulpan (Hebrew language class), a beautiful choir that performs throughout the country, exercise classes, computer lessons, trips-meaningful social and cultural opportunities for the residents to enjoy. At one time, Alice actually organized the group to protest the Egged bus company’s refusal to move the bus stop closer to the hotel so that the elderly residents did not have to climb a steep hill to reach the buses that would take them to other parts of the city. As expected, the protest was successful and the bus stop was moved closer to the hotel’s entrance!

Perhaps, Alice’s greatest achievement was the formation of a group of residents who became "home health aides" for the weaker residents who needed a few hours of extra care each day. To Alice (and the residents) this was a win-win situation. Using donated funds, Alice was able to pay a modest wage to those who offered their help (who live and the recipients benefited from the extra care they received daily.

When Alice wrote today mentioning that her funds to underwrite this very important activity were running low, we were happy to be able to tell her that we would forward additional money to keep this truly important activity going. It helps everyone!

November 13, 2008

SUNDAY (and Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and ….) FRIENDS

Twelve years ago, Janis Baron was a typical suburban Mom with three teenage kids enjoying a comfortable life in sunny California. The one "problem" that gnawed away at her was that her kids never really knew adversity-not that she wanted them to be anything other than happy, but she knew that they really had to learn how others lived-that everyone did not lead an easy and comfortable life. She also knew that volunteerism, which was an important part of her own life, was something her kids and many of their friends never really experienced.

With the hope that she could somehow change that situation, Janis arranged to take her kids and some of their friends to a nearby homeless shelter where her hope was that the kids would interact and develop a connection. She could not have been more disappointed with the outcome-the shelter kids just did not "connect" with their visitors. But…that all changed when she came up with the idea of having the kids work together to clean up the grounds around the shelter. The reward for cleaning up was stickers which seemed to somehow inspire the kids (and then their parents) to do more. From cleaning up to creating original artwork to beautify the shelter, Janis had discovered the key to a successful program.

Today, Sunday Friends runs a twice-monthly program in a local San Jose school. The program attracts the area’s poorest families (mostly first or second generation immigrants) who work together with volunteers "empowering families in need to break the cycle of poverty. Children and parents earn basic necessities while they contribute to their community, learn life skills and develop self-sufficiency." Just how they "contribute to their community" is accomplished by offering the participants classes in parenting, developing a good work ethic, perfecting job skills and other critical "life lessons". One of the activities that I particularly like is when kids and/or parents sit down to write thank you notes to donors who contribute to Sunday Friends. Here they learn several skills not the least of which is to perfect their language and writing.

In return for participation in the day’s program, participants earn credits which they can use in the "Sunday Friends Treasure Chest". What is in this treasure chest? The very important basic necessities everyone needs-diapers, school supplies, personal items.

The Sunday Friends model works. A visit to their web site describes many successful pieces of this program that change lives not only for the participants but also for the volunteers who contribute their time to make it all happen. San Jose, California (where Sunday Friends is located) is not unlike many other parts of this country. Think of how many people could be helped if this model was adopted in other regions.

In our conversation with Janis Baron today, we asked her what a donation would do right now to help her in her work. Her email response said it all:

OF COURSE, we can use $500 for the holiday season! Our families’ greatest need, to be honest, is for enough consumable products, such as diapers, toiletries and laundry detergent, to get them through the long break between our December 14 program and the January 11 program.

We are hoping to receive enough gifts from our community to sweeten the holidays, but our donors are turning their attention to toys right now and neglecting the ongoing basic needs. We want our families, some of whom are losing jobs in this trying economy, to be able to make ends meet until the new opportunities arrive in the new year. They are earning and saving their tickets and hoping to find the needed commodities in our Treasure Chest. Your donation of $500 will allow me to say YES instead of NO to fully stocking our "store" with the basic necessities this December.

Please visit http://www.sundayfriends.org/ to learn more about Janis’ dream…we think you will be impressed.

November 10, 2008

Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah (loosely translated as "one good deed leads to another")

A call came to us in early September from Amee Sherer, a friend and teacher at the Community Day School in Seattle. Could we find a worthwhile recipient in the hurricane-ravaged Mississippi-New Orleans area that would benefit from her students’ first tzedakah collection? The only stipulation was that they wanted to help other kids. Sure, we thought, this can’t be too hard – many people, kids and adults alike, are still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina that destroyed so much over three years ago. We asked for a little time to find just the right need and then offered the kids a challenge – we would match whatever they raised, giving them twice the power to change the world.

We made a call to Sue Halpern who lives on the Gulf-coast of Mississippi. Sue has been our guide and advisor for the work we have done in the region and has always been able to find just the right places where our tzedakah efforts would have the greatest impact. Could she find a good "home" for this tzedakah money – a place where kids’ lives would be enhanced? As expected, it did not take long for Sue to introduce us to the new school that was just completed in Hancock County. The Hancock Elementary school replaces three schools in the area that all sustained catastrophic damage during Hurricane Katrina. It took three years to construct this new building and students were moving in on October 14. Give them a few weeks to settle in and Sue was sure there would be many items that the kids could use in their new home.

It did not take long for us to make contact with one of the school’s administrators and just like that – we had a list! First and foremost on the list of needs were overhead projectors for several of the classrooms. School budgets allowed for only so many and there were still six classrooms waiting for this important teaching tool. We knew that the Seattle Community Day School tzedakah along with our matching money would take care of one classroom, but could we do even more? A few phone calls later and a Washington, DC and a Los Angeles-based religious school were on board with their tzedakah and six overhead projectors would be going to Mississippi!

Kids helping kids – just the way it is supposed to be…

November 5, 2008

The Righteous Among Us

We have worked with the Israel-based organization, ATZUM, for many years. Their focus has been not only to help people who have been impacted by terror attacks, but also foreign workers and Righteous Gentiles – non-Jews whose brave actions have been recognized as saving the lives of Jews during the Second World War. Yael Rosen, ATZUM’s dedicated staff person who works with the Righteous Gentiles in Israel wrote me this morning with a story that was at once both poignant and astounding.

A.T., now an elderly woman living in Israel, was from Ukraine and worked as a housekeeper for a Jewish man and his children whose physical appearance allowed them to live unbothered by officials. When that situation was no longer safe, the man and his children moved to another city where they were able to successfully portray themselves as Poles. While in that city, they sent for A.T. who resumed her work as the family’s housekeeper. Prior to this move, A.T. had no idea that the family was Jewish. Once in the new location she continued to work for them acting as if she were the mother and wife of the family, and often protecting their true identity when need be. This arrangement continued until 1944 when the area was liberated. When the war was over the next year, she and the father formally acknowledged the extent of their relationship which had grown from one of convenience to actual love by marrying and migrating to Israel along with the father’s two sons.

Today, A. T. is an elderly woman who requires almost 24-hour care. Her income is meager and her family helps to the extent that they can but the cost of nearly round-the-clock care is beyond their means.

Yael explained A.T.’s situation and provided us with all of the relevant financial information. Could we help? How could we not? The Good People Fund has committed to underwriting several month’s of care for A.T…something which she most definitely deserves.