[yshavurah] Social Action Project for the High Holidays

  • From: "Cheryl Levine" <clevineys@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Havurah Listserv" <yshavurah@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 10:45:32 -0400

YOU ARE INVITED!!
SOCIAL ACTION PROJECT FOR THE HIGH HOLIDAYS...
I'd like to invite parents and children (and ANYONE else who is interested) 
to our house this Sunday for Pizza, poster-making, and box decorating 
for the Sierra Leone children project.
I'm thinking 6:00PM? 
Please bring any craft supplies you think might come in handy...
RSVP ASAP
4 Helen Court, YS
767-9293
Looking forward to seeing you ,
Cheryl
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Cheryl Levine 
  To: Havurah Listserv 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 9:14 PM
  Subject: [yshavurah] Re: Social Action Project for the High Holidays

  Would anyone be interested in meeting at my house with kids to make some 
posters and expand the S.Lkids project beyond the Havurah?  We could make up 
some flyers or make some contacts with area churches, or schools...let me know. 
 If you're interested, we can set a date.
  Cheryl
    ----- Original Message -----   
    From: Cheryl Levine 
    To: Havurah Listserv 
    Cc: Randy Longenecker ; Deb Rothenberg ; Andrea Herman ; Fregeau, Morissa 
(GEI, GEFA) 
    Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 8:45 PM
    Subject: [yshavurah] Social Action Project for the High Holidays

    Hi All,
    I've been thinking about a way to address these High Holidays in light of 
what's happening in the world, and I'm tired of feeling like there's nothing 
much I can do.  I wonder if you would be interested in a project that involves 
collecting clothes and school supplies for the children of Sierra Leone.  
Here's the information that pulled me in...I also like the idea of our Havurah 
children participating in Tikkun Olam by helping other children:

    Old Clothes, New Friends
    Clothing Drive for Children of Sierra Leone

    Sierra Leone is a country that does not receive much press coverage; 
however, the hardships and suffering of the people of Sierra Leone are very 
real.

    The children of Sierra Leone have borne the greatest abuse. During an 
eleven-year civil war from 1991 to 2002, they were subjected to brutal violence 
and recruited as military combatants. They lost parents, homes, schools and 
medical care. Some three thousand children still beg in the streets of Freetown 
naked, hungry and often missing limbs, victims of wanton cruelties. Faced with 
this knowledge, we must place ameliorating human suffering at the forefront of 
our collective consciousness.

    To this end, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism has partnered 
with Saving Needy Children and Arms Around Africa, two non-profit humanitarian 
organizations helping the people of Sierra Leone, to hold a Sierra Leone 
Clothing Drive during the summer months.  This is the first time that Saving 
Needy Children and Arms Around Africa have partnered with a Jewish 
organization. 

    During the Holy Days, we read the famous charge from Isaiah: "Is not this 
the fast I look for: to unlock the shackles of injustice, to undo the fetters 
of bondage, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every cruel chain? Is it 
not to share your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into 
your house? When you see the naked, to clothe them, and never to hide yourself 
from your own kin?" Together, we affirm yet again the Jewish tradition of 
seeking justice and tikkun olam (repair of the world) and together we will do 
our part to give the children of Sierra Leone reason for hope of a better 
future. 

    
********************************************************************************************************

    For these High Holy Days, I'd like for us to place a box at Rockford Chapel 
that we can fill and send.  It may not be much, but it's something.  Maybe 
Antioch School would like to participate, or the Quaker community.  Maybe 
others?

    If folks don't feel like doing this as a group, you can send a box of 
clothing directly from your home; we're asked to label it as follows: 

    The Religious Action Center's Sierra Leone Clothing Drive 
    c/o Saving Needy Children/Arms Around Africa
    Mission Center 5 Pleasant View Drive
    PO Box 2053 
    Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
    DONATION/NO VALUE

    Items for collection include: shoes, t-shirts, shorts, underwear, socks, 
hats, head scarves, sports equipment, toys, and school supplies. They may new 
or gently used, and suitable for children of any age. All items will be 
delivered to orphanages and camps.

    For more information, see the website: http://www.rac.org/pubs/sl.html

    Thanks, Cheryl




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