Justice Continues in the New Year
Temple Emanu-El has been busy making an impact in the last two weeks all around the DFW community. With help from our partners, we have been able to connect our members with organizations to help others, using our Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. Due to the incredible generosity of Temple members to our Disaster Relief Fund, we have made a difference in people’s lives.
Over the past two weeks we have accomplished the following:
1. Donated $100 worth of snacks to Hurricane Ida evacuees.
2. Supplied 40 gift cards to Hurricane Ida evacuees to help purchase toiletry items.
3. Gave $1500 worth of gift cards to Afghan families to purchase food, clothing, and items for their new home.
4. Furnished 3 homes for Afghan families – big thanks to Nancy Lubar for her leadership!
5. Donated food to North Dallas Shared Ministries through the High Holy Day Food Drive – it’s not too late to participate!
6. Collected 3 large bins of school supplies to donate to the Refugee Services of Texas to supply backpacks for Afghan children.
7. Advocated for Texas to lift its state-wide ban on masks in Texas schools, keeping our children safe.
Nancy Lubar, Temple Member and social justice advocate, shares about her experience helping one of the Afghan families when they arrived in Dallas:
“Everything they owned, except for a change of clothing, was left behind. Temple published their needs list on Facebook’s Temple Responds page and, within hours, I was inundated with offers of donations from our congregation members wanting to help.
The furnishings placed in the 1-bedroom (for 4 people) apartment by the sponsoring agency were stained, worn & ugly. Sheila & Steve Stieglitz picked up Amy Goldstein Roseman’s comfortable armchair and delivered it to the family. Their daughter Leigh Morales is sending the family a beautiful sofa to replace the one with all the stuffing crumbling out onto the floor. Carol Wigder gave bedside railings so the toddler wouldn’t fall out of bed. Meredith Fried gave them her double stroller so that now the parents can take the children to the park or shopping to buy food. Others have offered tool kits, hangers, lamps, toys, a laptop & cleaning supplies.
Sue Sherman remade her beautiful collages so that the bared arms and women’s hair in the art pieces are now covered to be appropriate for Afghanistan culture.
Before
After
The most important items in Afghanistan homes seem to be area rugs. One can never have too many. Once again, I have been offered so many that I am waiting for this family to say “enough”!”
We are so thankful for the Temple community for helping these families!
We have even more social justice projects coming around the corner to continue to support our community.
Temple Emanu-El will continue to collect nonperishable food drive items for North Dallas Shared Ministries through Sukkot, September 24. Find more information about the Hunger Relief Drive here. You may drop of items such as pasta, canned vegetables, soups, meat, peanut butter, mac & cheese etc. The truck will be at Temple from September 14th to 17th. When the truck is not there, you may drop items off at the main entrance. If you cannot make it to Temple, you may also donate through this link.
During the Sukkot family event on Friday, September 24th at 6 pm, Temple members will be creating snack bags for front line workers. These bags will include individually wrapped snacks, along with a note to lift their spirits. These bags will be distributed to Jill Stone Elementary School in Vickery Meadow, Levine Academy, and nearby hospitals. If you would like to drop off snacks or paper bags, you can drop them off at YL+E on Sunday, September 19th from 9-12 am or from Monday, September 20th to Wednesday, September 22nd outside the main entrance. If you would like to attend the event, you can sign up here.
Lastly, Temple Emanu-El is excited to be participating in the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Dallas Walk Against Hate on Sunday, October 10th, 2021. We will be meeting in Victory Plaza at the American Airlines Center. ADL Texoma will be honoring various Dallas advocates along with hosting a community expo. In 2019, Temple had one of the largest teams and we would love to keep that momentum going. You may find Temple Emanu-El’s team here. There is also an option to walk virtually as part of the team or you may donate to that link. If you need financial assistance to attend the Walk, please email estrauss@tedallas.org.
To find out about more about Temple’s social justice projects, please contact Erica Strauss, Director of Social Justice, or join the Temple Responds Facebook page.