What an incredible event yesterday at the Interfaith Food Pantry. Eighty volunteers from all participating congregations - Christ Church, TSTI, Beth El and B'nai Jeshrun - as well as students from Pingry and Newark Academy grads joined together for a holiday distribution. Breakfast was served to over 150 needy individuals and families from Orange and East Orange and then the distribution began. Volunteers walked our clients through the holiday bazaar, where they could choose much needed toiletries, gifts and clothing. They also received food,baked goods donated by Supreme Bakery and Panera, and holiday meals (including hams donated by the generousity of a West Orange law firm).
Thanks to all who donated food and other items, to those who transported the donated goods, and to all who worked tirelessly yesterday morning to make our holiday distribution a huge success. What a great way to spend a day of Chanukah - it truly felt like a miracle was happening.
Last week's shocking Star Ledger headline said that nearly half of Americans now live in poverty or are low income. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/nearly_half_americans_either_l.html. To better understand how difficult it is to live on such meager (or no) income, take a look at some of the enlightening articles about a recent challenge the Community FoodBank of NJ and other hunger organizations held. http://www.njfoodbank.org/challenge/challenge-recap-journal. People were asked to eat on the average food stamp allowance, which maxes out at $31.50 a person a week. That Starbucks coffee we all enjoy costs as much as an individual often has to eat on for a whole day. The moral - be grateful for the bounty we all have, remember those who can't feed their families, and help in whatever way you can. Bring one, donate your time, support hunger relief efforts.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Chanukah Tikkun Olam 
Eight nights of Chanukah too often equates with eight nights of presents. Why not set aside at least one night of Chanukah for your family to jointly do an act of kindness towards others? Here are a dozen family-friendly suggestions to get you started.
1. Give thanks for the Chanukah dinner you eat. Then go grocery shopping (or raid your pantry) and donate canned goods so others will not be hungry. Bring food (canned vegetables, potatoes, tuna, tomato sauce, beans, fruit and soup, (plastic) jars of peanut butter and jelly, powdered milk, boxes of cereal and pasta to the bins stationed in TSTI’s front lobby and Religious School entrance for donation to the InterFaith Food Pantry of the Oranges.
2.Teach your children how important it is to do mitzvot. Help out with TSTI as we provide groceries to 60 families at the InterFaith Food Pantry on Wednesday, December 28 from 9:15 - 11:00. Contact TSTI Food Pantry Chair Janet Schwamm.
3.Donuts are a traditional Chanukah food in Israel. A donation to www.Pizzaidf.org will send donuts (or pizza) to Israeli soldiers.
4. Clean your bookshelves for a great cause. Gently used children’s books will be given to school children in Orange through the Children’s Book Pantry of Orange at the Y. Books can be left for 321 N. Wyoming Ave, Unit 2D, South Orange. For further information, email crlukoff@aol.com.
5.Clean your shoe bins. Gently used coats can be donated to Souls for Soles, collects used shoes to support micro-business efforts to eradicate poverty. Drop-off locations and other information can be found at http://www.soles4souls.org.
6. Color a picture for the homebound, ill, or elderly to brighten their day. www.colorasmile.org.
7. Bake cookies together. Deliver them to your local police precinct, fire station or rescue squad to say thanks for all they do!
8. Pet lover? Donate pet items to the South Orange-Maplewood pet shelter. Or be a dog walker or cat socializer. Jersey Animal Coalition (www.jaconline.org), 298 Walton Ave, South Orange.
9. Computer savvy kids? Click away to provide free mammograms ( www.thebreastcancersite.com), pet supplies (www.theanimalrescuesite.com), hunger relief (www.thehungersite.com), protect the rainforest (www.therainforestsite.com), give free books (www.theliteracysite.com) and support child health (www.childhealthsite.com) .
10. Play basketball together. Then donate $10 to Nothing but Nets, a campaign to stop the spread of malaria through the use of bed nets. www.urj.org/socialaction/issues/nets .
11. Eat latkes! Play dreidle! Then pool your change at the end of the game and donate it to: Mazon, a Jewish Response to Hunger, 10495 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90025 (www.mazon.org).
12. Write a thank you letter to our troops. It will be delivered as part of a care package sent by http://www.westorangecares.com/index.htm. Let our troops know you care.
Eight nights of Chanukah too often equates with eight nights of presents. Why not set aside at least one night of Chanukah for your family to jointly do an act of kindness towards others? Here are a dozen family-friendly suggestions to get you started.
1. Give thanks for the Chanukah dinner you eat. Then go grocery shopping (or raid your pantry) and donate canned goods so others will not be hungry. Bring food (canned vegetables, potatoes, tuna, tomato sauce, beans, fruit and soup, (plastic) jars of peanut butter and jelly, powdered milk, boxes of cereal and pasta to the bins stationed in TSTI’s front lobby and Religious School entrance for donation to the InterFaith Food Pantry of the Oranges.
2.Teach your children how important it is to do mitzvot. Help out with TSTI as we provide groceries to 60 families at the InterFaith Food Pantry on Wednesday, December 28 from 9:15 - 11:00. Contact TSTI Food Pantry Chair Janet Schwamm
3.Donuts are a traditional Chanukah food in Israel. A donation to www.Pizzaidf.org will send donuts (or pizza) to Israeli soldiers.
4. Clean your bookshelves for a great cause. Gently used children’s books will be given to school children in Orange through the Children’s Book Pantry of Orange at the Y. Books can be left for 321 N. Wyoming Ave, Unit 2D, South Orange. For further information, email crlukoff@aol.com.
5.Clean your shoe bins. Gently used coats can be donated to Souls for Soles, collects used shoes to support micro-business efforts to eradicate poverty. Drop-off locations and other information can be found at http://www.soles4souls.org.
6. Color a picture for the homebound, ill, or elderly to brighten their day. www.colorasmile.org.
7. Bake cookies together. Deliver them to your local police precinct, fire station or rescue squad to say thanks for all they do!
8. Pet lover? Donate pet items to the South Orange-Maplewood pet shelter. Or be a dog walker or cat socializer. Jersey Animal Coalition (www.jaconline.org), 298 Walton Ave, South Orange.
9. Computer savvy kids? Click away to provide free mammograms ( www.thebreastcancersite.com), pet supplies (www.theanimalrescuesite.com), hunger relief (www.thehungersite.com), protect the rainforest (www.therainforestsite.com), give free books (www.theliteracysite.com) and support child health (www.childhealthsite.com) .
10. Play basketball together. Then donate $10 to Nothing but Nets, a campaign to stop the spread of malaria through the use of bed nets. www.urj.org/socialaction/issues/nets .
11. Eat latkes! Play dreidle! Then pool your change at the end of the game and donate it to: Mazon, a Jewish Response to Hunger, 10495 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90025 (www.mazon.org).
12. Write a thank you letter to our troops. It will be delivered as part of a care package sent by http://www.westorangecares.com/index.htm. Let our troops know you care.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
TSTI helps with FoodBank Turkey Drive, IFP - and what you can still do!
As the news is filled with heartbreaking stories about the continued need for food assistance in NJ, our congregation recently participated in two major efforts to help our neighbors. On Saturday, Nov 19, we were the local site for the 13th year for the Annual Thanksgiving Food and Turkey Drive for the Community FoodBank of NJ. We collected 108 turkeys, enough to provide dinners for 1620 people, as well as two bins of food and cash donations. Additional turkeys donated after the Drive were brought to the FoodBank for future use. We are grateful for everyone's donations, as well as the extremely generous support of this effort by both the Susan Ackerman Sommer Fund for Social Justice and the Bass Foundation.
Wednesday Nov. 23 was a very busy day at the InterFaith Food Pantry of the Oranges. Thanks to the generosity of Kings in Short Hills (which donated 152 turkeys) and the food contributions by TSTI as well as members of Christ Church of Short Hills, and Congregations Beth El of South Orange and B’nai Jeshrun of Short Hills, over 50 volunteers (mainly from Beth El as well as students from Newark Academy) distributed our regular bags of food plus the ingredients to prepare a very special holiday meal to over 150 individuals and families. In addition, our Food Pantry recipients were able to select from gently used winter coats and outer-wear which were collected by Beth El and Congregation B’nai Israel in Basking Ridge.
As large and significant as these effort seem, the need is even larger. For the third year in a row, both families and individuals stopped at our Turkey Drive site to ask if we were giving out turkeys that day. And at the IFP, there were still hungry people we had to turn away when we ran out of turkeys and supplies.
TSTI is next responsible for staffing the Food Pantry on Wednesday December 28 from 9:00 – 11:00 AM. In addition, we have been asked to assist Congregation Beth El with the pre-Christmas distribution on December 21 from 8:00 - 11:30, when we will hand out hams for a holiday dinner along with setting up and manning a “holiday boutique” composed of new and gently used toys, books, clothing and small household items. If you can assist, contact Janet Schwamm. Your school-age children are welcome to assist us on both these days.
With the need so great, it is more important than ever that we all help support our Bring One program at temple. Make it a habit to add a few cans of non-perishable groceries for the IFP to your cart every time you shop. Bring one or more non-perishable food items with you each time you come to temple, whether you come for services, a bar mitzvah, to drop or pick up kids, or for a meeting. Encourage your family members and friends to do the same. A list of the items we routinely distribute is on this website. The food collected helps us replenish the shelves at the IFP, which continue to get depleted as the pantry is now routinely serving at least 60 individuals and families each week.
Wednesday Nov. 23 was a very busy day at the InterFaith Food Pantry of the Oranges. Thanks to the generosity of Kings in Short Hills (which donated 152 turkeys) and the food contributions by TSTI as well as members of Christ Church of Short Hills, and Congregations Beth El of South Orange and B’nai Jeshrun of Short Hills, over 50 volunteers (mainly from Beth El as well as students from Newark Academy) distributed our regular bags of food plus the ingredients to prepare a very special holiday meal to over 150 individuals and families. In addition, our Food Pantry recipients were able to select from gently used winter coats and outer-wear which were collected by Beth El and Congregation B’nai Israel in Basking Ridge.
As large and significant as these effort seem, the need is even larger. For the third year in a row, both families and individuals stopped at our Turkey Drive site to ask if we were giving out turkeys that day. And at the IFP, there were still hungry people we had to turn away when we ran out of turkeys and supplies.
TSTI is next responsible for staffing the Food Pantry on Wednesday December 28 from 9:00 – 11:00 AM. In addition, we have been asked to assist Congregation Beth El with the pre-Christmas distribution on December 21 from 8:00 - 11:30, when we will hand out hams for a holiday dinner along with setting up and manning a “holiday boutique” composed of new and gently used toys, books, clothing and small household items. If you can assist, contact Janet Schwamm. Your school-age children are welcome to assist us on both these days.
With the need so great, it is more important than ever that we all help support our Bring One program at temple. Make it a habit to add a few cans of non-perishable groceries for the IFP to your cart every time you shop. Bring one or more non-perishable food items with you each time you come to temple, whether you come for services, a bar mitzvah, to drop or pick up kids, or for a meeting. Encourage your family members and friends to do the same. A list of the items we routinely distribute is on this website. The food collected helps us replenish the shelves at the IFP, which continue to get depleted as the pantry is now routinely serving at least 60 individuals and families each week.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Help End Childhood Hunger - Eat Out Sept. 18 - 24!
More than 16 million kids in America struggle with hunger. You can help when you dine out at restaurants across the country who participate in Share our Strength's Dine Out: No Kid Hungry from Sept. 18 - 24. Local participating chains include IHOP, Cinnabon and Boston Market, and local restaurants include Highland Place in Maplewood, Legal SeaFoods at MASH, and Highlawn Pavilion and the Manor in West Orange (full list here: http://www.strength.org/apps/dineout/Google/DisplayMap). Plenty of NYC restaurants as well. Enjoy - and support a good cause!
The IFP needs your help
Our efforts for the Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges continue. Our congregation is responsible for staffing the distribution (which includes bagging bread and groceries), and with supporting the provision of food for distribution, on the fourth ednesday of every month. We are faced with an increasing number of families who come because they need supplemental food assistance. We are so concerned with being able to meet the demand for groceries, as the economic situation of our neighbors has not improved.
As many of us experienced during the recent hurricanes, the concern about where one’s next meal is coming from can be terrifying, and imagine if it was a continuous concern for you or your family. Take those extra food items you purchased and did not use for your own family and donate them to others for whom hunger is an everyday concern.
Here’s how you can help:
Bring One, or More - every time you come to TSTI. For your convenience, there are collection containers in the coat room for when you access the main Sanctuary doors, and near the Religious School office for when you or your children come in the far doors. When you go shopping, throw an extra can or two into your order, and keep it in your car so it will always be accessible when you come to temple. A full list of what we need every month can be found here: http://www.tsti.org/page4/page4.html. Please, no glass.
We always seem to be short of canned vegetables, peanut butter and jelly, cereal, and canned fruit. It takes a lot of cans to have enough for 60+ families every time. If every congregant brought just 2 - 3 cans a month we could more easily fulfill our obligation.
Involve your kids: Get your kids in the habit of bringing a can when they come for Religious School or services. If they are in the supermarket with you, let them know that you are purchasing extra cans to help our neighbors. For less than a $1, you can teach them a great life lesson.
If you have teenagers in grades 9 - 12 who are interested in community service, urge them to join the IFP Teen Board. The Teen Board consists of engaging, creative, interested, and innovate kids from a mix of towns and schools and religious organization. They meet about 3 times a year, and focus on discussing major issues of the food pantry and trying to think of new and creative ways to solve these issues, such as new fundraisers, food drives, and changes to make in the actual handing out of the food. The Teen Board will also help plan for the major Holiday Food Pantry events each year and participate in and help plan for events such as the annual Hunger Walk in May, Action Against Hunger Food Drives, and MEND (meeting emergency needs with dignity) events. Please contact Carley Stein cstein13@newarka.edu and she will add your teen to the face book group. If you have special questions or concerns feel free to e-mail Carley or call at 973-715-2561.
Donate funds to help us purchase what we do not receive. Checks can be made out to Rabbi Miller’s DIscretionary Fund, with a notation for the Interfaith Food Pantry.
Help out at one of the scheduled Food Drives at our local supermarkets. Teens and adults are welcome for as little as an hour or as many as 4 hours. Drives are scheduled on Sept. 25 from 12 – 4 at Shop Rites in both Springfield and Essex Green, as well as at Kings in Livingston on October 2. Contact Janet Schwamm jschwamm@gmail.com
379-2533.
Volunteer with us at the Pantry on the 4th Wednesday of each month from 9:15 - 11:00. It takes a lot of people power to bag and distribute groceries to 60 families. Adult and children welcome. It’s a wonderful experience for children, and our parents sometimes even bring kids to school late to experience this mitzvah. Contact Janet Schwamm jschwamm@gmail.com 973 379-2533.
As many of us experienced during the recent hurricanes, the concern about where one’s next meal is coming from can be terrifying, and imagine if it was a continuous concern for you or your family. Take those extra food items you purchased and did not use for your own family and donate them to others for whom hunger is an everyday concern.
Here’s how you can help:
Bring One, or More - every time you come to TSTI. For your convenience, there are collection containers in the coat room for when you access the main Sanctuary doors, and near the Religious School office for when you or your children come in the far doors. When you go shopping, throw an extra can or two into your order, and keep it in your car so it will always be accessible when you come to temple. A full list of what we need every month can be found here: http://www.tsti.org/page4/page4.html. Please, no glass.
We always seem to be short of canned vegetables, peanut butter and jelly, cereal, and canned fruit. It takes a lot of cans to have enough for 60+ families every time. If every congregant brought just 2 - 3 cans a month we could more easily fulfill our obligation.
Involve your kids: Get your kids in the habit of bringing a can when they come for Religious School or services. If they are in the supermarket with you, let them know that you are purchasing extra cans to help our neighbors. For less than a $1, you can teach them a great life lesson.
If you have teenagers in grades 9 - 12 who are interested in community service, urge them to join the IFP Teen Board. The Teen Board consists of engaging, creative, interested, and innovate kids from a mix of towns and schools and religious organization. They meet about 3 times a year, and focus on discussing major issues of the food pantry and trying to think of new and creative ways to solve these issues, such as new fundraisers, food drives, and changes to make in the actual handing out of the food. The Teen Board will also help plan for the major Holiday Food Pantry events each year and participate in and help plan for events such as the annual Hunger Walk in May, Action Against Hunger Food Drives, and MEND (meeting emergency needs with dignity) events. Please contact Carley Stein cstein13@newarka.edu and she will add your teen to the face book group. If you have special questions or concerns feel free to e-mail Carley or call at 973-715-2561.
Donate funds to help us purchase what we do not receive. Checks can be made out to Rabbi Miller’s DIscretionary Fund, with a notation for the Interfaith Food Pantry.
Help out at one of the scheduled Food Drives at our local supermarkets. Teens and adults are welcome for as little as an hour or as many as 4 hours. Drives are scheduled on Sept. 25 from 12 – 4 at Shop Rites in both Springfield and Essex Green, as well as at Kings in Livingston on October 2. Contact Janet Schwamm jschwamm@gmail.com
379-2533.
Volunteer with us at the Pantry on the 4th Wednesday of each month from 9:15 - 11:00. It takes a lot of people power to bag and distribute groceries to 60 families. Adult and children welcome. It’s a wonderful experience for children, and our parents sometimes even bring kids to school late to experience this mitzvah. Contact Janet Schwamm jschwamm@gmail.com 973 379-2533.
Great work by Habitat volunteers
TSTI volunteers helped to build a house in Irvington today, putting up wallboard on walls and ceiling. Thank you to our hard-working volunteers: Kenn, Robyn and Greg Ehrlich, Marcia and Matt Michaels, Carol Paster, Carol Schiffman, Josh Stoller and Dennis Percher.
By the way, Habitat is always in need of financial contributions. If you would like to help, send your check to:
Habitat for Humanity Newark
298 South Orange Avenue
Newark, NJ 07103
Or donate online at http://habitatnewark.org/donate_now.htm . And be sure to tell them that you are a member of TSTI.
By the way, Habitat is always in need of financial contributions. If you would like to help, send your check to:
Habitat for Humanity Newark
298 South Orange Avenue
Newark, NJ 07103
Or donate online at http://habitatnewark.org/donate_now.htm . And be sure to tell them that you are a member of TSTI.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Hunger in NJ - The Facts
A landmark study of Hunger in NJ from Feeding America shows that 12.7% of NJ's population suffers from food insecurity (defined by the USDA as a lack of access at times to enough food for an active healthy lifestyle for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods). An astounding 49% of these individuals do not qualify for SNAP (Food Stamps) and must rely on food assistance programs (like the InterFaith Food Pantry). They need better wages and employment opportunities to help them meet their basic needs. Essex County is one of the 5 counties in NJ with the highest food insecurity.
Source:http://www.njfoodbank.org/media/banknotes/ (Spring 2011 edition)
Source:http://www.njfoodbank.org/media/banknotes/ (Spring 2011 edition)
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