A Report from Annette DeMarco
Social Action Committee Chairperson
Volunteers from our synagogue teamed up with the Methodist Church in Leonia to assist the United Presbyterian Church of Lyndhurst, in hosting homeless families. The church in Lyndhurst hosted for one week and we took over for one of those nights, cooking and serving dinner and staying overnight. A great big THANK YOU to Jody, Lauren, Lisa, Jerome, Carol, Claudine and Rachel, who fought rush hour and construction traffic, cooked for this venue as well as for their own families, picked up and delivered for and from each other, rushed around following work and yet, were so gracious and helpful at the church, were complimented by church volunteers (as was the dinner!). To Lauren, who stayed overnight with me, well, you're a great roommate! Thanks for staying. By the way, you all did such a great job, we were asked to help out again... too soon??
The program held for the Adler Aphasia Center was a wonderful success regarding the money raised for their scholarship program and for the knowledge and awareness the twelve or so attendees came away with. Robin Strauss, Education and Outreach Coordinator, who presided over the morning's program, more than once told me how very "generous" the people there were and how their questions and comments during the informative segment of the presentation were insightful and meaningful. In fact, Chrysa Golashesky, Program Director of "Something Special", the division of the center where the items we bought are made by members, called me to reiterate Robin's words. Thank you to Richard for getting the word out for this program via cable and to Virginia for doing so through the newspapers. A special thanks to Marilyn, who set up, cleaned up, baked for the breakfast, and never stopped offering to "do more" and to Lauren and Virginia for support and help.
Priceless moments:
1) When Jill Noorily and Steven Chartoff, two religious school student aides, offered to help us set up before school started. Toda raba!!
2) When a student came in, after school, to buy a Mothers Day gift for Mom, giving it a lot of thought before purchasing just the right gift that she would like. (It was, by the way, a great choice!)
New collection: May 1 through June 5, we will be collecting GENTLY WORN spring/summer clothing, baby sizes through adult sizes. These will be donated to various organizations. Please DO NOT INCLUDE AUTUMN/WINTER GARMENTS. We do not have room to store them and they will be tossed.
Food collection continues...
B'Shalom,
Annette
acheryl21 at gmail.com
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