Avenues to Hope
Providing Essentials to our Neighbors
BJBE’s primary social action initiative recognizes and seeks to meet the basic needs of people right in our North Shore community - and beyond. Through the three pillars of Collection, Action, and Donation, we provide a range of opportunities for congregants to make meaningful contributions in pursuit of Tikkun Olam - repairing the world - by starting with our own neighbors.
Monthly Collection: Moraine Township Food Pantry and Northfield Food Pantry
We are working with local food pantries to “fill in the gaps” by providing household and personal items - like laundry detergent and toilet paper - not available through government programs like SNAP, food banks, and other typical pantry resources. Congregation BJBE will be the pantries’ primary source of these items to reduce the insecurity our Northshore neighbors face. Watch This Week as well as signage in the Village Center for each month’s collection. Donated items can be dropped off in the console of the Tzedakah Niche.
Contact: Laurie Egert Weissler, Tracey Horwich
Collection: PADS Homeless Shelter
From 2013 to 2023, BJBE, led by Ruth Miller, supported the PADS (Providing Advocacy, Dignity, and Shelter) Lake County shelter at First Presbyterian Church, Deerfield. That shelter was a joint initiative of houses of worship in our area that helped those currently experiencing housing-insecure by providing meals and a place to sleep one night a week. BJBE congregants volunteered for the 4th Sunday of each month.
Starting in the fall of 2023, PADS Lake County began housing individuals in hotels in Waukegan and Mundelein. BJBE periodically leads grocery collection drives to add to the PADS food pantry that supports these individuals.
Contact: Joel Newton, Naomi Weitzel, Tracey Horwich
Action: Project Nourish
Fourth Sunday of each month, 8:45-10:15 a.m.
Once a month, volunteers gather in BJBE’s kitchen to pack and deliver lunches to help feed people who are food insecure. The lunches are distributed to neighborhood residents near Another Chance Assembly church on the west side of Chicago and at a senior center and at two shelters for victims of Domestic violence in Waukegan. To choose the date you want to volunteer, click here. To learn more about Project Nourish and its history, click here.
Contact: Merrilee Waldron, Rachel Tzinberg, Sonya Morgan
Action: Baking Cookies for Project Nourish
This is a wonderful Tikkun Olam opportunity for congregants of all ages! Bake a batch of home-made cookies (no nuts or nut products, please) and bag by twos in Ziploc bags to be added to Project Nourish lunches, which are delivered to people who are in need of food. Please label your outer bag Project Nourish, with the date and quantity on the bag, and ring the bell and deliver them to the office or put them in the far right freezer in the kitchen. We will include the cookies the next time we prepare lunches.
Contact: Merrilee Waldron, Rachel Tzinberg, Sonya Morgan
Action: Community Tikkun Olam
As part of BJBE’s commitment to the community, we have regularly planned offsite activities for all ages. Join fellow congregants in helping out at organizations such as the Ark, Bernie’s Book Bank, Gratitude Generation, and Feed My Starving Children, where we join together to make a difference outside of the synagogue.
Contact: Melanie Berkowitz
Donation: Tzedakah
Our JLC students are a critical part of Avenues to Hope. Each month, our Sixth Grade classes will research several different charitable organizations before voting on one to be that month’s tzedakah recipients. The entire JLC also helps us collect, sort, and deliver items for the Moraine Township Food Pantry.
Contact: Tracey Horwich, Melanie Berkowitz