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Social Action and Community Involvement & Garden News So Active With Social Action Jane Foreman suggested a food drive for the Idaho Food Bank to collect cans of tuna for the Idaho Food Bank while we were at Shabbat on the Lake last June. In a letter to the Chai Lights recently, one member confirmed that there is a lack of protein other than peanut butter at the Food Bank. Please contact me if you are interested in helping with a tuna drive this spring. Jewish World Watch focuses on improving the situation in the Sudan and has
provided us with the supplies to make name tags for backpacks filled with school
supplies being sent to refugees this year, and the potholders that we decorated
last year to accompany their solar cooker project. Tom Rogers, a new member from
Southern California, recently attended the Jewish World Watch monthly meeting in
Los Angeles. We are looking forward to his sharing ideas he has gathered from
being a member of the J.W.W. Board once he settles in. Ahavath Beth Israel joins the following organizations in endorsing the NRCAT's "Torture is a Moral Issue" statement denouncing torture: Union for Judaism, The Rabbinical Assembly, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. I will close on a happy note about a party I went to in January to welcome about 80 African refugees from Burundi who have arrived in the Boise area in the last year. The purpose was to identify resources to help the refugees, and I was able to promote our Tuesday night E.S.L. classes. The Mountain View Baptist Church was filled with the sounds of drumming as the families mingled. It was indeed a joyous occasion! Alise Pemsler
The place was warm and pleasant; people were up and kind and relaxed. People met me at the car and took all the stuff in and kept thanking me and thanking me. And I kept saying this is a donation from Fred Meyer on Franklin Street. Honestly, I wanted to stay a few minutes longer. Judith Interfaith Sanctuary Shelter News Gene Badesheim spent several hours at the Sanctuary Work Party clearing and moving a lot of heavy odds and ends, loading trucks to remove unneeded items to either storage or thrift shops. He helped move and re-assemble beds in the newly opened section of the sanctuary building. Gene is thinking of coming out of retirement to work for Nice Jewish Boys with Truck! Greg and Aimee Moran volunteer several times a month at Sanctuary and do chores outside the mornings and nights that our congregation agreed to with Sanctuary. Nancy Byron has volunteered to pick up day-old sandwiches at Zeppoles and deliver them to the Interfaith Sanctuary for the Homeless on a regular basis. Way to go, Nancy! A special thanks to those who volunteered on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day,
and New Year's Eve: Hannah Kahlke, Courtney Geyer, Rabbi Laura, Harriet and Gene
Badesheim, Gail Lebow, and Greg and Aimee Moran. Harriet told me that, on
Christmas Eve, it was a special experience of good feelings and a true feeling
of camaraderie but that Christmas has become such a commercial holiday that many
of the vulnerable guests seemed to get really depressed. They responded to the
kindness and interaction with the CABI volunteers. When Carmen and Marisa Pemsler went with mom Alise to deliver 20 pounds of
pastrami leftover from the Friendship Feast, we were told that, for sanitary
reasons, the guests weren't allowed to make their own sandwiches. Carmen and
Marisa cheerfully put on plastic gloves and made 99 sandwiches! Gayle Speizer has donated toiletries. Many others have left donations in
the sanctuary box at CABI. |
