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Thank You TBE Members: Another Successful Year for TBE Food Drives 

12/06/2019 10:34:00 AM

Dec6

Our generous members have come through again to fight hunger in our community. The High Holy Day Food Drive raised over $14,000 this year. Of these funds, $10,000 has already been sent to Second Harvest Foodbank, which distributes millions of pounds of food each year in southern Wisconsin. We will use some of the remaining funds to support hunger relief efforts at Temple Beth El, including dinner supplies and groceries for the Porchlight Men’s Shelter. To support our work on immigration, we will make a contribution to the Dane Sanctuary Coalition immigrant assistance fund earmarked for food assistance.

High Holy Day Food Drive funding will also support our newest food program at Thoreau Elementary, the neighborhood school for the Temple Beth El area. Volunteers from many community organizations have joined together to provide weekend food for eligible families. Food drive funding will be combined with generous contributions from the rabbi’s discretionary fund and from Vic and Sue Levy, totaling enough to cover TBE’s contribution for the first three years of the project. You can read more about this program and how it got started here.

“We joined this coalition because it is aligned with our belief that students should be hungry to learn, not hungry,” said Lea Aschkenase, founder of Food for Thought, which is coordinating the weekend food program at Thoreau Elementary. “Research unequivocally demonstrates hunger impairs health, learning, behavior and the ability to attend and focus. By working together, we can simultaneously sustain and expand our school-based nutritional support.”

Right after the High Holy Days came our second major food drive, when the Religious School classes competed to see which grade could donate the most canned goods and supplies to the Goodman Community Center Thanksgiving basket collection. We are pleased to report that TBE families collected a total of 452 items for Thanksgiving dinners. The winning class was small but mighty: the kindergarten classes (4K and 5K) brought in the most items. 

We appreciate everyone who made these two food drives such a success. Special thanks to our office madrichim (teaching assistants ), Eliana and Ben, for counting and boxing up the Thanksgiving contributions, and to Hank and Jesse Sherman for delivering everything to the Goodman Community Center.

March 28, 2024 18 Adar II 5784