Time out for Passover

The next two weeks will be the only time of the year when I will remind you not to bring crackers or tuna to the synagogue due to Passover. We will resume the collection as soon as Passover concludes. Everyone should also know that unfortunately, we cannot accept Passover foods, such as matzah for our Family Table collection. Chag Sameach. Enjoy your seders.

"The Vibe of Positive Mitzvah Energy"

"The vibe of positive mitzvah energy" as one volunteer described it was in the air. Yesterday 16 families from our congregation volunteered to pack and deliver food to households that need it. They did this alongside volunteers from other local congregations and schools. It was a real community effort, as it is every month. Despite the rain, our mission was accomplished. My husband and children delivered food too, while I stayed at the distribution site. I put together a three minute video to give you the feel of the day. The volunteers on the video will tell you all about it.

Question and Answer

From my email:

On Mar 7, 2010, at 5:37 PM, cc wrote:

random question do you ever what anything else? every week we put something in but if I am out of tuna, we bring soup. Once we brought mayo. Is that helpful or difficult for you? thanks, CC

Dear CC,

Thanks for your question. The way the system works, we are responsible for 70 boxes of crackers and 70 cans of tuna each month, 11 months of the year.( In August it is too hard to find volunteers to deliver the food so recipient families are sent supermarket gift certificates.) Soup is one of the foods that another congregation collects so it is fine for me to bring in but it does not get us to our goal of 70 tunas and 70 crackers. Mayo is not one of the foods distributed by Family Table, so it ends up in a miscellaneous pile.

With about 50 organizations collecting foods, and over 100 households receiving food, there needs to be a system, otherwise people would end up with an unpredictable assortment each month. Family Table wants people to know what they can expect each month so they can plan better.

So, it is better just to bring tuna and crackers. So far this year, every month we receive more than enough tuna, but we seem to be short on crackers all the time.

That is probably more than you ever wanted to know about Family Table.

Thanks for keeping Family Table in mind on such a regular basis. That is a great mitzvah and wonderful example for E and R.

-Julie

Purim Brings Pasta

At my synagogue someone realized years ago that boxes of pasta make great groggers. Every year on Purim, the youth group, without even being asked, buys about 3 dozen boxes of rotini and sells them for two dollars each before the Megillah reading. The purchasers receive boxes of pasta to use as groggers for the evening that they then donate to Family Table when the evening ends. It is a win-win situation. Of course, we still need about 30 more boxes of crackers before March 14, but I'm sure within the next few weeks, my fellow congregants will also provide the crackers to which we have already committed. It's too bad you can't shake cracker boxes...