September 07, 2010   28 Elul 5770
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Calling All Volunteers!  



Social action projects at Riverdale Temple try to involve members and to provide outreach to the greater
community. The year is filled with on-going, social action activities such as: planting tulips in memory of
people lost on 9/11 or planting tulips at a nearby women's shelter; collecting canned/boxed food donations
all year for the Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Marble Hill Food and Hunger Project (KRMH), as well as, the special
Yom Kippur collection; helping others in our community, city and nation through the Pajama Program to
provide warm pajamas to children in need; and participating in collecting coats for the New York Cares
initiative through the 50th Precint in December.

Riverdale Temple is proud to sponsor an Annual Mitzvah Day, in which children from the Religious School
participate, as well as adults, families, friends and members of nearby synagogues and churches. All efforts
on that day are geared to help others outside the Temple: making bagged lunches for a soup kitchen in the
Bronx; making men's grooming kits for the Midnight Run; collecting good quality clothing for Big Brothers/Big
Sisters; making a garden with youngsters at a residential home; providing cleanup at a Greenstreets Park;
visiting the elderly at senior centers or hospitals, and helping to create an afternoon of enjoyment; knitting
chemo caps and blanket squares for Warmup America. Save the date Mitzvah Day April 6, 2008.

We try to link with as many different community organizations as possible to provide help and to provide
variety of ways in which volunteers can participate. Our Social Action activities emphasize looking beyond
oneself and helping to make the world a better place for others in our community and beyond.


children helping to pack toiletries to be donated to local shelterssorting clothes for donation to shelters
Knitting for charity on Mitzvah dayRabbi Lewis knitting for charity on Mitzvah day

Helen Krim was this year
 

Well, it’s April already! April is filled with special holidays and commemorations. At Riverdale Temple, April is
traditionally the month for Mitzvah Day.

As I was writing this article, I was reading the April edition of Natural Health. Research is showing that by volunteering
to help others, we can ease stress, have more energy, have fewer colds, and have less pain. By working with others to
volunteer, we improve both our mental and physical health.

Another study demonstrated that people who volunteered lived longer lives than those who did not volunteer at all.

Mitzvah Day 2007—April 29, 2007 (9:30 a.m.–noon)

 

 

As I write this column, it is one of the hottest days in the summer, but we are within a month of 5768!

September brings new beginnings and new opportunities to do things that you may not have done or made time to do

in the past. The Social Action Committee welcomes new volunteers, whether you have belonged for many years or

have just joined. All service is most welcome, and we can arrange for service credit for teens who need it for their

school requirements.

Ways You Can Help                                                                  
                                                                    

1. Please bring in filled grocery bags, which will be distributed on Rosh Hashanah, for the special Yom Kippur

collection for the Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Marble Hill Food and Hunger Project, Inc. We need healthful canned soups,

canned protein items, peanut butter, cans/jars of tomato sauce, canned fruit and vegetables, and healthful hot/cold

cereals. If you are donating rice or pasta, please donate it as boxed items. We do not need matzohs at this time.

2. Please continue to donate groceries all year. We need volunteers to pack and deliver our grocery donations on

September 23 (a very large collection, so we need people with vans or cars with roomy trunks), October 21,

November 18, and December 9.

3. Volunteer to plant tulip bulbs at Ittelson (October 14).

4. Help by participating and encouraging others to give generously of new pajamas and storybooks to the Pajama

Program in October–November.

5. Help serve Thanksgiving and Christmas luncheons at Schervier Nursing Home.

6. Put aside your gently used coats for the New York Cares Coat collection in December.

7. Help deliver Chanukah and Passover packages for BJCC (December and March).

8. Participate with the community to pack holiday treat bags for needy children and seniors for Chanukah and

Christmas on December 16 at the Presbyterian Church.

9. Save some of the travel size soaps, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner, etc. from your travels to make men’s grooming

kits on Mitzvah Day 2008.

10. Help organize the workshop on autism (date and time to be announced).

11. Help plan and implement Mitzvah Day 2008. (January–May 4, 2008).

12. Support the KRMH Food and Hunger Project Benefit Concert on Sunday, April 13, 2008, at 2:00 p.m., to be held at

Ethical Culture.

13. To have a “baker’s dozen”—keep trying to stay green in small or big ways, using special light bulbs; buying

products made from recycled items; bringing a cloth bag to bring home grocery purchases, renting a hybrid car, etc.

Wishing everyone a healthy and joyous New Year! Make this year special by giving a little of your time to help

others. You’ll be glad you did! (Please call 718-796-7166 to volunteer.)

—Frances Segan, Ph.D., Chair, Social Action Committee

 

April 6th, 2008 : MITZVAH DAY 2008

It is here!  Charity Knitting for Warm Up America as an ongoing Mitzvah Project
 

 

 THE MISHLOACH MANOT PACKAGES ARE ON THE WAY TO IRAQ,

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!

 

Last year's The Iraq Soldier Project is moved to the Social Action page.
 See Thank You letters from our soldiers on the lower right of
 this page under Temple Flyers and Forms.
      We will soon be sending more care packages to our Soldiers in Iraq.

Social Action News  

 

Mitzvah Day 2008

As we write this article in early February, we are starting to receive responses from the organizations we work with for

Mitzvah Day. SAVE THE DATE! APRIL 6, 2008 (9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.).

In early March you will receive a Mitzvah Day participant registration form in the mail, and others will be at the

temple office. Please plan on participating with family, friends, and neighbors to help:

1. Make sandwiches and bagged lunches for POTS.

2. Sort and pack donated clothing for Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

3. Make men’s grooming kits for the Midnight Run.

4. Visit someone in a nursing home. Help with the social hour.

5. Do early garden cleanup at a group home or community garden.

6. Plan on doing other mitzvot, since we expect additional responses.

HELPERS NEEDED! To shop for ingredients for the bagged lunches (200); to serve as site coordinators to work

with outside agencies and the temple to plan the day; to work with volunteers at the temple.

Please call 718-796-7166 and help where you can.

KRMH Food & Hunger Project Packing Dates, 11:45 a.m.

March 30, May 4, June 22, and either July 27 or August 3. We plan to collect food all year, including during the summer.

KRMH Food & Hunger Project Benefit/Commemorative Concert

In March you will see flyers for the concert on April 13, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. The benefit concert is to help the KRMH

Food & Hunger Project and to celebrate 30 years of the organization’s serving the community; the project was

started by Dr. Mathilda Furman. Riverdale Temple has been a major supporter, both through food donations and the

Loveman Fund. Please join us for the concert, which will feature Ellen and Claudia Knafo, piano, Cora Gordon,

violin, and Steve Reid, cello. We shall be inviting members of the Riverdale-Kingsbridge-Spuyten Duyvil Clergy

Conference to join us as well. The cost of the concert and reception is $20.

Please look for the flyers at the temple. Hope to have you join us!

—Frances Segan, Ph.D., Chair, Social Action Committee

 

 

 

Mitzvah Day April 2008  


Children packing grooming kits for the homeless on Mitzvah DayElaine and Amy sorting through clothes for the homeless


making sandwiches in the Temple          The Temple was full of activity on Mitzvah Day!

 


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