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| Summer 2009
A publication of The Mitzvah Food Project
Center for Social Responsibility, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia |
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Welcome to our fifth edition of Food For Thought, a publication designed to provide you with information about the Mitzvah Food Project (MFP), updates on hunger issues facing our community and opportunities to get involved as an MFP advocate, volunteer, educator or recipient. We publish quarterly, bringing you news and views about MFP and the volunteers who make it all possible. Please help us spread the word and invite your co-workers, friends and family to visit our website at www.jewishphilly.org/mfp and sign up to receive the Food For Thought e-mail newsletter. Your Opinion Counts! And...because successful communication and collaboration are fundamental to the success of our program, we are hoping that Food For Thought will serve as a "two-way street." Your contributions, comments and observations are vital components of our newsletter. So, please be in touch. If you have ideas about articles, information that you'd like to see us highlight, reflections on Mitzvah Food Project activities, or commentary on Food For Thought articles, please email ddavis@philafederation.org. Drisana Davis
Mitzvah Food Project
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
Lee Hillerson
Mitzvah Food Project Advisory Board Chair |
| Mitzvah Food Project Update |
Announcements:We're seeing a growing trend in which more of our recipients are in need of toilet paper, paper towels, diapers and other essential paper goods. If you or your synagogue would be interested in holding an Essential Paper Drive, please contact Drisana Davis at ddavis@jfg.org Thank you! Events:
Harmonies for Hunger Relief · A Benefit Concert
Please Join Us! On July 19, 2009, alumni and students of Barrack Hebrew Academy will present "Harmonies for Hunger Relief," a benefit concert for the Mitzvah Food Project of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. From 7 to 9 PM, at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, 272 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, you'll enjoy a wonderful summer evening of music and make a positive impact in our community by supporting hunger relief efforts in the Greater Philadelphia area. For registration and information on how to become a sponsor, please visit www.jewishphilly.org/mfp or contact Deirdre Mulligan at 215-832-0509; dmulligan@jfgp.org
2009 High Holiday Food Drive Aims to Increase Donations Federation's Mitzvah Food Project (MFP) is streamlining and greening its 2009 High Holiday Food Drive to direct more of its resources to feeding vulnerable families and older adults. The annual food drive, a collaboration between the MFP and area synagogues and organizations, will run from September 18 through October 12 - from Rosh Hashanah through Simchat Torah. Individual synagogues and organizations will set the exact dates for the drive at their location. All sites within each Federation Kehillah will collect one type of kosher, non-perishable food. This year, food donations will be collected in bins, rather than in plastic bags. Click here to read more... |
| Volunteers Spotlight |
The Fabulous Cooks of Temple
Beth Hillel-Beth El
This is very thoughtful. These meals are delicious. Almost like eating my own. When I could still see.
--Lucille Crawford, an appreciative recipient
Reaching out. Helping those in need. Feeding the hungry.
This is simply what it means to be Jewish.
-RabbiNeil S. Cooper.
At Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El of Wynnewood, ending hunger in the Jewish community is a top priority. In addition to Cook For A Friend-a program for Seniors at JCCs Jacob and Esther Stiffel Senior Center, and Soup For The Soul-a program for those in need of comfort, food and warmth-the Committee on Hunger cooks, freezes and delivers wonderful meals and fresh fruits and vegetables each month to 16 client families of The Mitzvah Food Project.
Brooke Kohn
 Mazel Tov! A Sheynem Dank! How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.--Anne Frank On June 13, 2009, Brooke Kohn was called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah at Old York RoadTemple - BethAm. Adored by all who know her, Brooke observed this momentous occasion by bringing naches to family and friends, and food to those in our community who often go hungry.
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| Newsline |
A Push to Make Philadelphia Lunch Program National
By David O'Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer
Five area legislators have introduced legislation that would make the PhiladelphiaSchool District's "universal feeding" program a national model. Reprinted with permission of The Philadelphia Inquirer Click here for complete article
Summer Food Service Program-- Food That's in When School is Out
Each summer, 18 million students are at risk of going hungry when the school year ends and school lunches are no longer available. For many children, school meals are the only complete and nutritious meals they eat, and in the summer they go without. This summer, the need will likely increase. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) can help to fill the summer meal gap for low-income children. Faith-based, community and private non-profit organizations can make a difference in the lives of hungry children by serving meals with SFSP, a federally funded program administered by states that reimburses organizations for meals served to children during the summer. Click here to read more... | |
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Mitzvah Food Project Advisory Board
Lee Hillerson, Chair
Peggy Carver, Esq.
Nina Cohen
Drisana Davis
Ruth Firth
Jerrold Frezel
Madelyn Karasick
Mary Kirsch
Ruth Laibson
Janet Levin
Robin Rifkin
Lainey Simonson
Mona Sutnick
Sheila Weiss
Judith Woloff
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| Dinner Table Conversation |
April 29, 2009
Congressional Spouses Join First Lady at Food Bank
By Rachell L. Swarns
Michelle Obama and lawmakers' spouses pack bags of food for needy families. One by one, the volunteers filled their plastic bags to the brim...
Reprinted with permission of The New York Times
Click here for complete article
How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? Though our food appears the same-a tomato still looks like a tomato-it has been radically transformed. In Food, Inc., producer-director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) lift the veil on the U.S. food industry - an industry that has often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihoods of American farmers, the safety of workers and our own environment.
With the use of animation and compelling graphics, the filmmakers expose the highly mechanized, Orwellian underbelly that's been deliberately hidden from the American consumer. Find out more
Movie Reviews:
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| You Can Make a Big Difference! |
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Here at the Mitzvah Food Project, we bring people together to perform mitzvot (good deeds) and to do gemilut hasadim (acts of loving kindness). Though the MFP is serving an increasing number of clients, there is still much we must do to reduce hunger and malnutrition in our community.
If you would like to make a donation to the Mitzvah Food Project, volunteer at one of our five pantry sites, or find out more about our program, please visit our website at www.jewishphilly.org/mfp or contact Drisana Davis at 215-832-0531 or ddavis@philafederation.org
The Mitzvah Food Project thanks all of its volunteers and its partnership with SHARE and the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger for making it possible for us to meet the most basic needs of Greater Philadelphia's at-risk community members.
We would also like to express our gratitude to our generous sponsors, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Mazon and Lincoln Financial, as well as hundreds of individual donors. Thank you for your invaluable support!
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| The mission of the Mitzvah Food Project is to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in a caring and dignified manner, and to educate and advocate on behalf of those in need. The Project works in partnership with volunteers and community groups, spearheaded by synagogues and Jewish organizations. | |
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