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.