Temple Beth El Blog

Looking to volunteer? Need a b’nai mitzvah project? Here are ways to help people in our community. 

Costume Drive

October 9–November 6
Donate gently used and outgrown Halloween costumes for TBE to send to Israel for Purim! Collection box will be in the foyer on Sunday mornings and Wednesday afternoons during school or in the Coatroom at other times.

Thoreau Food Program

Temple Beth El is again joining with other neighboring congregations and organizations to provide children at Thoreau Elementary School with food to take home over the weekend. Many of the children at Thoreau qualify for free or reduced school lunches and may be without adequate food on weekends. Food comes from Second Harvest Foodbank, but volunteers are needed to pack and distribute the food bags for 40–50 children in the Thoreau Elementary Weekend Food Bag Program. 

Two to four volunteers are needed for a morning each week during December. Dates are Friday, December 2, 9, and 16, and Tuesday, December 20. Packing takes place at Westminster Church on 4100 Nakoma Road. We meet at the church at 8:15 am to pack the weekend bags and then distribute them to the children’s lockers at the school at 9:30 am. You may work any or all of these days. 

Please contact Vic Levy at levy@uwplatt.edu with any questions. The first step for anyone interested in volunteering will be to sign up as a volunteer (Level 2) with the Madison Metropolitan School District (go to the MMSD volunteer website at https://appgarden6.app-garden.com/VolTrackWI3269.nsf). This will activate a background check to enter Thoreau Elementary to distribute the food. Please visit their website now if you wish to help in December. If you are already approved to volunteer at any MMSD school for this year, please revise your Volunteer Tracker profile to include food pantry assistant at Thoreau. 

Please use the following Sign-Up Genius link to join us for a day in December: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0B44ADAC22AB9-thoreau2 

Volunteer Drivers Needed

The Dane Sanctuary Coalition has provided rides for many immigrants to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices in Milwaukee, Waukegan, and Chicago, as well as the United States Immigration Court in Chicago since 2019. While there are 49 individuals currently on the email distribution list, there have been a couple of times in which no one has volunteered to take an individual or a family to their scheduled appointment. We are seeking additional volunteer drivers.
 
The scheduled appointments typically are for:

• Collection of biometrics, which includes a photograph, fingerprinting, and completion of a form providing identifying information (e.g., color of eyes).
• Security checks. Generally, the security checks are done annually. For recently arrived immigrants, they may have an appointment to remove an ankle monitor once the immigrants have a permanent address.
• Asylum interviews.
• Court hearings to determine if the immigrant/family will be given a deportation order.

 
The rides to Milwaukee or Waukegan and back generally are completed within four to six hours. The rides to Chicago and back are full-day events. Dane Sanctuary Coalition is able to provide a $25 reimbursement for rides to Milwaukee or Waukegan and a $65 plus parking reimbursement for rides to Chicago.
 
When one of the referring agencies have an immigrant/family with a scheduled appointment at USCIS offices or Immigration Court, Dan Zimmerman or Dineen Grow, the co-coordinators for the volunteer driver program, will email the distribution list seeking a volunteer driver for the specific ride. Volunteer drivers only commit to a specific ride based on their availability.
 
A virtual training session will provide further explanation about the role and responsibilities of a volunteer driver, USCIS processes, etc. If you are interested in being a volunteer driver and receiving the training, please send Dan Zimmerman an email message at zimmerman_dan@hotmail.com or call him at his home at 608-241-1158.

Nonpartisan Election Observation and Other Voter Support Opportunities

The TBE Civic Engagement Action Team has been working to provide nonpartisan voter support throughout the summer and fall. There are still opportunities to help before and even after the election on November 8. The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is recruiting people who want to serve as nonpartisan election observers and other volunteers. If you’re interested, see here or contact Marcia Vandercook.

Items Needed for Porchlight Men’s Shelter

In mid-September, during the heavy rains, Porchlight had 188 men in need of shelter. This is the highest number of guests ever, in Porchlight’s 35 years of managing the men’s shelter. Here are the items currently most requested by the men: 

• Umbrellas
• Rain ponchos
• Headphones
• Sweatshirts (big sizes)
• Jackets (big sizes)
• Pants (big sizes)

Can you donate any of these items? New or gently used is fine. Items can be dropped off or mailed to Porchlight admin offices at 306 N. Brooks Street, Madison, WI 53715, or dropped off directly at the shelter at 200 N. First Street (Johnson Street entrance), any day, 4:00 to 8:00 pm. Thank you!

Serving Meals at the Catholic Multicultural Center 

If you are looking for a fun, easy opportunity to help the community and spend quality time as a team or group, you can help serve a meal at the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC). Our TBE team is signed up to help on the third Tuesday of each month. Our next days will be Tuesday, October 18, and Tuesday, November 15, 3:30–5:30 pm.

CMC provides free meals every day to community members on Madison’s south side and people experiencing homelessness. Our volunteers set out and serve the food, join the meal, and then do the dishes and clean up. The center serves about 80 people daily. The Catholic Multicultural Center is located at 1862 Beld Street, Madison, WI 53713. 

Interested in engaging with other TBE members to meet this critical community need? Click the sign-up link and tell us when you are available. Please contact Sue Levy, slevy51@gmail.com, if you have questions.

Court Observers for Criminal and Eviction Court

Several Temple Beth El members act as court observers under a program run by the Nehemiah Center for Urban Development, watching and reporting on criminal and/or eviction court hearings. Observers make their own schedules and are expected to observe about four hours each month. For more information, you can contact any of those currently involved: Betsy Abramson, Lynn Silverman, or Cari DiTullio.

Helping the Allied Wellness Center Essentials Pantry

Twice each year Temple Beth El members raise funds to purchase critically needed personal hygiene, cleaning supplies, and gas and grocery gift cards for the Nehemiah Allied Wellness Center Essentials Pantry. The first drive is in January around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the second is at Juneteenth. Between the two drives, we raised over $4,700 to support our neighbors in the Allied area. 

According to coordinator Betsy Abramson, the Allied Wellness Center staff is now inspired to reach out to other Madison-area congregations to follow our example, giving the Essentials Pantry a reliable source of funding for these items. Rabbi Jonathan Biatch has also made monthly donations from the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund to help out. If you would like to help with purchasing items, or getting the boxes ready on Mondays or Thursdays from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, contact Betsy Abramson to explore whether this volunteer gig is a good fit for you. 

Middle School Literacy and Math Tutors

The Racial Justice Action Team is partnering with the Urban League of Greater Madison to recruit adults as literacy or math tutors in Madison’s middle schools. Volunteers complete online training and then select the middle school of their choice to commit to at least one hour each week working with individual students. You can begin to explore this opportunity by completing the volunteer tutor application. To learn more about it from a tutor who participated this spring, please contact Betsy Abramson at 608-332-7867, who tutored in algebra twice a week at O’Keeffe Middle School. She learned a lot of algebra herself and reports great satisfaction in helping a 7th grader catch up in this critical skill from what he lost during the year of online school during the pandemic.

Volunteering through Jewish Social Services 

Jewish Social Services of Madison (JSS) is looking for volunteers to help with Shabbat services for seniors, in-person events this summer, friendly visitors, shopping partners, and other tasks.

JSS is also receiving more refugee families for resettlement, and there are a number of ways you can help: setting up apartments for arriving refugees, driving the JSS bus to transport larger families, and teaching English language and literacy skills. New volunteer opportunities are posted here. If you have time and would like to help, please contact JSS volunteer coordinator Paul Borowsky at 608-442-4083 or paul@jssmadison.org.

JSS is also revamping its refugee mentorship program and hopes to pair many of their refugee clients with individual mentors. Two TBE members recently began mentoring an Afghan woman as a pilot pairing of sorts and have found the experience to be meaningful and enjoyable. Contact Erica Serlin or Lynn Silverman to hear about their experience and learn more about the program.