 Chairperson: Don BelmontSocial Action Committee Mission Statement
Social Action Calendar
High Holy Day Food DriveEach year, the Social Action Committee organizes a food drive. Bags are distributed on Rosh Hashanah and collected on Yom Kippur. Food and personal items are given to the Second Harvest Food Bank and Jewish Family Service. Second Harvest of Lehigh Valley distributes over 4 million pounds of food each year, serving 42,000 needy people each month in Lehigh and five surrounding counties. Each weekday, 5000 children participate in after school/evening meal programs that receive food from Second Harvest. According to Ann McManus, director of Second Harvest, canned foods that are rich in protein are most important. Such food would include tuna fish, canned beef, chicken and fish stews, and beef chili. She also notes that the federal food stamps program does not pay for such items as diapers and toiletries including soaps, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and detergent. These items are very important. We also donate kosher food to Jewish Family Service of the Lehigh Valley. Appropriate kosher foods include:
The high holy day food drive was a great success this year (2006). We collected hundreds of bags of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank as well as three carloads of kosher food for Jewish Family Service. Over 2000 pounds of food were collected. That is over a ton of food! This is an especially difficult time of year for the food banks, and our congregational effort really makes a significant difference for hungry families in the Lehigh Valley!
Tzedakah Box and “36 Ways to Heal the World”As many of you are aware, we are undertaking an ambitious project that involves the entire KI congregation the Tzedakah Box Project! This will involve the distribution of a tzedakah collection box to every family in the congregation at Yom Kippur services on October 2, 2006, along with a booklet “36 Ways to Change the World" (click for Table of Contents; click for Rabbi Lennick's introduction). The intent is to incorporate tzedakah into our daily comings and goings, the box being a clear plastic fundraising cylinder where we could all drop our spare change at the end of the day. The money will be pooled in a KI account, and dispersed locally, regionally, and nationally as directed by a Tzedakah committee. Along with the collection of money, we have distributed a booklet of social action activities, “36 Ways to Change the World”, written and produced by KI congregants. This gives specific ways that each of us can make the world a better place, in accordance with the concept of tikkun olam healing the world. The Tzedakah Box and Booklet is a way to keep in mind the spirit of giving in everyday life. The Tzedakah boxes and booklets were distributed to each family at Yom Kippur services. If you were unable to pick them up then, contact the temple office to join in on this exciting project! For further information, contact Don Belmont, Social Action Committee, 610-395-1452, DJBelmont@aol.com
Yom Mitzvah a Great Success!
We completed 11 projects:
Many thanks to Yom Mitzvah Chairperson Judy Belmont, for coordinating the events of the day, and keeping over 200 volunteers moving in the right direction! Also, the morning could not have been so successful without the efforts of Brotherhood, who prepared a wonderful breakfast for everyone. Lastly, and most importantly, thanks to everyone who came out to help. Through acts such as these, we certainly are turning our faith into action.
Share the Warmth Warm Clothing Drive A Great SuccessSunday, November 12, 9AM-Noon Social Action Committee collected cold weather items (see pictures) that were sorted and donated to local charitable agencies for distribution to homeless and low-income people in the Lehigh Valley for the cold weather ahead. Congregants generously cleaned out the closets and drawers, and donated them to some needy people in our region who could really use help
Children’s Books Collection for the 'Cops N Kids Children’s Literacy Program'Last winter, we held our first children’s book collection. We collected over a thousand books! These books were then turned them over to the Allentown Chapter of Quota International. The books were then sorted and labeled by Quota volunteers, and eventually donated to police substations, and distributed by the police officers directly to neighborhood children. This helps to develop a positive relationship between the police department and community kids, and allows some needy kids to own their own books. The project has been a success in Bethlehem already, and has also been implemented in a large number of other cities around the U.S. We will repeat the children’s book collection project in the winter of 2007! For more information about the book program, visit the organization website - www.cops-n-kids.org
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The purpose of the Social Action Committee is to put our faith into action by reaching out to others in our community to make a difference through performance of mitzvot. We hope to educate the congregation about issues of social importance, thereby enabling them to find a place where they can make a difference. We will advocate evaluation of those issues from the perspective of Jewish teachings and traditions. Through active participation in a variety of projects and programs, we wish to mobilize the congregation to act and accomplish our goal of Tikkun Olam - helping to repair the world. Our focus will be threefold - to serve the temple community, to serve the local community, and to serve the greater community on the national and international scale. 
Prep
and Painting of West End Cemetery Gate was successfully accomplished
by Al Salinger and his painting crew. 