Temple Or Hadash Social Action was extremely busy this fall/winter. Our project theme was Just Enough, Just In Time. We focused our efforts on the homeless adults and needy children in our own community.
We wanted to contribute items that were essential to survival for the homeless and joyful items to help make the children’s holiday season a bit brighter.
Our outdoor clothing and gear drive for the Homeless produced a huge amount of warm clothing, camping gear and sleeping bags. When we delivered our donations to the Homeless Gear personnel, they told us “This is just in time. We need these things for our drive around outreach TONIGHT.” Little did we know that our Just Enough, Just In Time mission was so literal.
Our second project focused on Children in Need. This was a project lead by our students in Religious School under the direction of their teachers, Leah Schaer and Renee Cohn-Jones. They were assisted by Kara Deming and her outstanding leadership and compassion. The children collected many wonderful items: stuffed animals, toys, writing pads, Crayons and pencils and toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Their goal was to prepare 36 string backpacks of gifts for 5 – 8 and 9 –12 year olds. However, their success at encouraging the congregation to donate was so overwhelming they were able to give much more to the Murphy Center. When the Center opens for Children in Need on December 8, many children less fortunate than our own will have a brighter holiday because our children (and our adults who support them so generously) understand and truly live our tradition of Tikkun Olam.
Thank you for your contributions that made these projects so successful. And a special thank you to Leah, Renee and Kara for their leadership in our projects’ success.
L’Shalom
Rick Grabish