Traveling participants: Emily Yaniv Jason Pat Skylar Aspen Claire Sierra Curt Edmond Cole Peter Greg Zach

A guest post from JFC’s Social Action Committee - Debbie Lavin

We had a very successful Midnight Run on March 17. The weather was beautiful and some of our young people were experiencing the Run for the first time. It was a gratifying experience for all. Thanks to everyone who participated — from the people who have been donating clothing and toiletries all year, to people who made extra bag dinners for the Run and the people who have helped out sorting and labeling clothing.

Our own Talia conducted a terrific Girl Scout project with several of her fellow scouts. She organized them to go through the huge amount of clothing in the bins, labeling and sorting them. There were quite a number of bins that had gotten wet on the inside, so she washed and dried the clothing so they were ready to use! Thanks to her mother, Sue K., for facilitating and helping with this project! And thanks to Sue for donating more bins for the clothing. Congrats to Talia for working on this high level scouting award.

Thanks to Sarah V. , Phyllis A. and Emily K. and their families for helping to sort and label clothing.

Thanks to Iris G. and her two kids who helped make bag dinners to take on the Run.

Thanks to Jan S., Alan S. and Mark L. for helping to get things ready on the Run and “launch” the runners.

And finally, thanks to all the people who participated on the 3/17 Midnight Run till the wee hours of the morning

Thanks especially to Pat S. who took leadership responsibility for this Run and made an extra trip down to Dobbs Ferry to pick up the Midnight Run Van.

We hope to do our next run in Late June — look for the date in next month’s Shofar and email me if you want to participate.

I have been twice “homeless”, both times after a divorce.  I took shelter with parents or friends.  Not quite the street, but certainly not home.  Mine was an issue of comfort, not survival.  In my work with the alcohol and drug addicted, I know many who have been homeless for extended periods and have gone on to rebuild their lives.  I know many who are dead.

But most perplexing is the plight of a friend of mine, I’ll call Rhoda.  She is a degreed and experienced social worker who for the better part of a year was living in her car.  Friends gave shelter during the winter months.  But during warmer times, unemployment exhausted and the economy in shambles, she worked for minimum wage, just barely able to buy food for herself and her dog and gas to move her car.  Did you know that some Wal-Marts allow you to sleep in your parked car?  How could this happen?  The good news is that she has since found a good job in her chosen field.

This brings us to the Midnight Run, which is March 17.   We already have our limit of participants to go on the run, but we really need volunteers to help sort and label the clothing and make bag dinners.

We need a volunteer to make soup.  And several volunteers for meals: each meal should have, in a paper or plastic bag:

• A hearty sandwich (a nice amount of meat, or chicken or tuna salad, etc.), condiment and lettuce (no tomato, too messy!)
• Fruit- e.g. durable like an orange or banana (apples sometimes OK, but hard to bit if one is missing teeth), or a prepackaged fruit cup with a plastic spoon.
• A high protein item, such as a hard-boiled egg or cheese stick snack.
• A Juice box
• A dessert or two – e.g. granola bars, cookies, candy bar, or brownies, etc.
• A couple of napkins

The food should be prepared on the 17th.

All those interested in meeting up to help with sorting clothing between now and then, please email DebbieLav@aol.com .  We will set times that are convenient to those willing to help.   You can also take clothes home to label.  We use masking tape to mark the clothing size so that it’s easy to sort and distribute.

We will need some people to gather at the garage prior to 3/17 in order to organize and decide what we will be taking.  We hope many can come to help out.
For those who also want to participate on the run to New York City, we are planning to schedule one more in May or June.

On behalf of the physicians, nurse practitioners, staff, and most importantly, the patients at Open Door Family Medical Center in Mount Kisco, I am writing to thankyou for organizing an incredibly successful book drive. Of our 4,500 patients in Mount Kisco, 40o/o are children, and all of them come from families that are struggling financially. Sending each child who visits our Health Center home with a book they can keep is an invaluable gift. After a summer of school physicals and a fall of flu shots, our shelves were looking a little bare. Thanks to the generosity of the families at |FC, they are now filled with wonderful, age appropriate books, and our closets are stocked to refill the shelves when needed. The families we care for greatly appreciate being able to return home with a book every time they visit us. Thank you for helping us in that effort.

Police HQ destroyed in Haiti - a Flickr by AIDG- 1/16/2010

We have all been profoundly shocked and dismayed by the tragedy of the island of Haiti that was struck by a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.0 last January 12 leaving only rubbles and hundreds of thousands of casualties. The outpouring solidarity was nearly immediate, even before anyone could simply fathom what it meant. Our congregation rallied and called to action in the form of donations, as there were enough reputable organizations that quickly set up funds that could welcome everyone’s generosity. When tragedy strikes, this is the least we can do, besides crying and praying.

Last Sunday several congregants were able to answer the call of the South Salem Presbyterian Church who was assembling hygiene kits to be sent for relief to the Haitian people, made of ziplock bags containing nail clippers, toothbrushes, cloth. It’s a great soothing feeling to see everyone do, as little as may be, give their time and energy in the community, to come to the aid of stricken people who lost everything.

I have been following the rescue efforts as much as I could,  and been amazed at the fortitude of the rescue teams. I have been praying for the return of this young woman of Somers, who was part of a charitable mission with her Florida University and I have been saddened by the news. There is a sense of utter community when you feel that tragedy is not just spelling out numbers without faces, but people you know, who are part of your own town or college, country or families.

I have been incredibly moved by the effort conducted by the IDF, the Israeli defense, who sent a medical crew from half the world away together with the latest of the art medical field hospital. Two days after the earthquake, they were already saving lives. The first baby who was delivered on January 15 was named Israel by his thankful new mother. May this little boy grow safe and know a less tragic course of life! Finally the Israeli went back home, but in the meantime they did wonders and I hope this can send a message to our youth on the right thing to do and the great mission of pikuah hanefesh (saving a soul).

Here is a short clip taken on a cell phone while the Zaka team is enticing a crowd of Haitian into singing  Evenu Shalom Aleichem. Zaka is a group  of very religious orthodox israeli whose mission is to help rescue and recover in cases of tragedies. They were four of them who went right away to Haiti and offered their know-how, and they did not stop during Shabbat because saving a life takes precedence on the Shabbat.

You may go to our website to see  our JFC Social Action Committee page or contact them if you want to get further involved.