October 20, 2008

A Safe Haven

Did you ever wonder what happens to all of those hotel rooms that sit empty night after night? Few, if any hotels and motels have 100% occupancy 365 nights a year. In 1991 Naomi Berman-Potash who was working in the hotel industry at the time, asked that very same question. It came to her after she read a news article that discussed the shortage of safe rooms for women who arrive at local shelters for battered women. Naomi thought immediately of the empty hotel rooms she knew were to be found throughout the country, and had the "aha moment!"…why couldn’t she connect the shelters with hotels in their area and solve a serious problem? Naomi knew that there were details that needed to be worked out but they were just that – details, and before long she started Project Debby. Today, more than 17 years since its founding, Project Debby has provided thousands of women with safe haven while hotels throughout this country work in cooperation with local shelters to make it possible.

Project Debby works with minimal overhead and in our last phone conversation with Naomi we heard about her latest successes in getting the program to more cities. We have just sent her some funds to keep her good work going…it is a true life-saver.

October 17, 2008

The Face of Hunger Revisited

A few days ago (see October 12 entry – The Real Face of Hunger) we wrote about the very real problems of hunger facing many people in this country today. Newspapers, magazines…all types of media have reported on the crisis that has erupted since the economic meltdown began earlier this year. We even shared (in the above-noted piece) our own experiences as we hear directly from both individuals who are personally affected and from programs throughout the country that are hard-pressed to provide what is needed in their own communities.

Because of the current situation, the email we received this morning from our friend Syd Mandelbaum of Rock and Wrap It Up! (http://www.rockandwrapitup.org/) takes on particular significance. Syd’s newsletter shared word of several of his organization’s new programs – each designed to address hunger and poverty in creative and meaningful ways. Originally started to retrieve leftovers from performance venues, Syd’s most recent success has been the Federal Food Donation Act of 2008 which requires all federal buildings that serve food to retrieve leftover food from its premises and get it to local agencies that will use it to feed hungry people that they serve. 32 federal buildings in Washington, DC will be actively involved in the inception of this program by working closely with 204 local agencies that will benefit from the leftovers. Syd has also made contact with New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and five of its hospitals will share leftover meals with local shelters.

We cannot help but think that creative programs such as Syd’s have taken on even greater importance today as we face the difficulties of an economic slowdown. We know that this country produces enough food to feed its citizens – the solution has always been to get it to where it is needed. We believe that Rock and Wrap It Up! is a very important piece of the solution. Take a look at their website to learn more.

October 16, 2008

Getting Out of the House

Linda Mosek is a professional in everything that she does. As a social worker and head of CLICK, an Israeli organization that provides social services for elderly residents in the city of Hod HaSharon, Linda is often aware of difficult situations involving her elders that could benefit from some immediate attention. We are always "on call" for her and when we can, will help fix whatever problem she might be trying to resolve. Her latest email describes a poor, elderly, handicapped woman who would very much benefit from taking part in CLICK’s center for disabled people but cannot do so because her handicaps and extreme overweight make it impossible for her to travel in the center’s van that transports the elders. A private cab would provide the solution for this problem but the cost is beyond the woman’s meager income. Could we help? It would cost the equivalent of $14. for each day the cab delivered her to the center where she could interact with others and benefit from the socialization the group experience would provide.

Could we help?

Because of the generosity of a donor who has contributed funds to us for just these types of situations, we were able to send Linda a check that will guarantee this elder gets out of the house each week for the next several months. Tzedakah money well spent!

October 12, 2008

The Real Face of Hunger

I am a single mom with two teens. I have contacted the Met Council there is a waiting list for the food pantry. Do you have any other suggestions?

This is but one email we have received over the past few weeks which relates to the very serious situation facing many, many people in this country today.

The past several weeks have not been easy for anyone here in the United States or most anywhere in the world. The unprecedented economic free-fall is a stark reminder that all is not well and will, no doubt, stay that way for some time to come.

Because so much of what the Good People Fund does relates to the most basic of human needs-shelter, clothing, food…it is not surprising that we are hearing about serious problems when it comes to individuals and families who are struggling to put food on their table. The writer of the above email actually works full-time and yet, she is having difficulty feeding her family. Perhaps, even more distressing is that she mentions that the Met Council (The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty in New York City) has a waiting list for new clients.

What we hear from this woman is repeated to us often…the programs that we work with that do provide food are being pressed beyond their limits with new applicants who cannot provide sustenance to themselves or their families.

We worry and we wonder where this is all going to go….

October 10, 2008

Recording and Remembering History – Toldot Yisrael

Can you imagine what it would be like to watch a DVD which features George Washington and our nation’s founders speaking about their personal experiences as they fought for independence from England? How much more "real" would our country’s birth be for all of us? What we describe is just fantasy as we all know that the technology needed to make that happen was hundreds and hundreds of years away from being developed.

Not so for the founding of another nation that plays a significant role for us as Jews.

At the time of the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, there were approximately 600,000 Jews over the age of 15 living in the country. 60 years have now passed and there remain about 120,000 elders, each with unique memories from that momentous time. Some were active participants in the State’s founding-having served in the Palmach, the Irgun, the Haganah. While reading Leon Uris’ Exodus (and staring into those amazing blue eyes of the late Paul Newman), or a boring history book may fill in some of the story, nothing quite compares to hearing first-hand accounts from those who experienced the pain, the excitement and ultimately the joy of the founding of the State.

Aryeh Halivni (Eric Weisberg), the founder of Toldot Yisrael made aliyah several years ago. He knows that time is quickly running out and that recording (visual and audio) the stories of those participants is something that must be done now if that unique aspect of the story is to be preserved. He also knows that today the technology for recording and preserving those stories does exist.

Utilizing the latest tools in digital recording, Toldot Yisrael has begun the huge task of recording the reminiscences of those who played a vital role in Israel’s founding. When completed, the testimonies will become part of a huge interactive database and archive.

We write about Aryeh’s efforts for many reasons-not the least of which is the importance of what he is doing and the extraordinary time sensitivity involved as those who hold these recollections age. We also believe that a Bar or Bat Mitzvah might find this project meaningful and be moved to contribute some tzedakah to underwrite the critical interviews. Aryeh tells us that between $350-$500 would help underwrite an individual interview. How exciting and meaningful it would be to know that you helped record stories about the founding of the State of Israel.

To learn more about Toldot Yisrael, check out http://www.toldotyisrael.org/.

October 06, 2008

Puzzling Bar Mitzvah Project

Rabbi Neal Gold is an old friend who we have known since his earliest days in Rabbinical School. Now the Rabbi of Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland, Massachusetts, we can always count on Rabbi Gold to send us leads on some pretty spectacular tzedakah or mitzvah ideas. We were not disappointed yesterday when an email arrived sharing the story of Max Wallack, one of Rabbi Gold’s students who recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. After reading a bit more about Max in Rabbi Gold’s email I knew that I wanted to speak with him and so I sent Max an email asking him when we might have a few minutes to chat. In a very short time he responded and suggested this afternoon "after he returned home from school". (How many times have I had to wait until late in the day after school hours to talk to some amazing mitzvah kid? Many!)

I was not disappointed as Max was a thoroughly charming young man who conveyed his excitement about this project and his wish to help other kids do the same thing in their own community. Here is what Max shared with me:

About a year and a half ago, my great grandmother who lived with my family, died of dementia. I had spent a lot of time those last few weeks visiting her in dementia units after she could no longer be at home. I saw how bored and agitated the patients were. I read a lot about the illness and discovered many research articles that showed that doing jigsaw puzzles could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, or even slow down their progression in affected patients. I decided, initially for my Bar Mitzvah project, to collect puzzles and donate them for the use of these patients. I wrote many emails to companies all over the world. More than a dozen companies sent puzzles. One company producing art puzzles even sent them at their own expense ($197) from Italy!! Initially, I was hoping to accumulate a hundred puzzles.

As the week went by, I became more and more involved in my project. I decided to make a website, and to place collection buckets around the area I live in. I now collect from about 15 locations over a 20 mile radius from my home. I’ve just reached 500 puzzles collected. I’ve also been talking to some students at a local college. Some of them have been told they can get credit for community service for helping me. We are trying to set up a lollipop sale, where I could make Halloween and Thanksgiving lollipops, and they would sell them on campus. All the money would go to purchase more puzzles. I also hope to eventually be able to form my own non profit agency to continue this work.

I have absolutely no doubt that Max’s wish to start a non-profit will come to fruition. He has not only succeeded in coming up with a fabulous Mitzvah Project, he is also a recognized inventor who, despite being just 12 years old, has already invented the Carpal Cushion (a special cushion to be wrapped around the wrist to help people who do tasks with repetitive motion), the Great Granny Booster Step, a special step to help elderly and handicapped people climb into minivans and SUV’s, and the Walk and Wait Cane– a cane with a sturdy fold out seat attached, suitable for elderly people as well. Max told me that he thinks that he has a responsibility to help other people by using his particular skills…we would have to agree!

For more information on Max’s project, visit http://www.puzzlestoremember.org/ or write directly to Max to learn how you can do this in your community. Max can be reached at inventorkid@gmail.com.

Pretty awesome…