Laura Linder, President/CEO of Jewish Community Partners (JCP) announced this week that JCP will unite 14 local Jewish organizations through CommUNITY Days, a citywide service initiative celebrating MIFA’s 50th anniversary celebration. Promoting community collaboration is a hallmark of JCP’s role in the Memphis Jewish community, and bringing together diverse organizations in support of this shared service project will build and enhance relationships to benefit the entire community.
Participating Jewish organizations are Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth Congregation, Baron Hirsch Congregation, Beth Sholom Synagogue, Bornblum Jewish Community School, Chabad Lubavitch of Tennessee, Hillels of Memphis, Jewish Community Partners, Margolin Hebrew Academy/Finestone Yeshiva of the South, Memphis BBYO, Memphis Jewish Community Center, Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab, Memphis NCSY, Or Chadash Synagogue, Plough Towers, Temple Israel, and Young Israel of Memphis. They join faith-based organizations from throughout the city to form a cooperative group of over 60 participants performing various acts of service.
The Jewish community’s project involves assembling “birthday bags” for MIFA’s Meals on Wheels clients. JCP has set a high goal of donating 1,000 bags, and there are multiple opportunities for community members to participate. From August 15 through August 31, there will be donation boxes at the JCP office to collect the necessary items. Donors can also purchase items online through an Amazon wish list, or donate money which will be used to purchase the items. Visit our website to learn more, to shop, or donate.
You can also go directly to our Amazon wish list for the project. All purchased items will be sent to our offices. If you want to give but not shop, you can make a gift through Memphis Jewish Federation. We’ll do the shopping for you!
MIFA has requested the following items for the birthday bags: socks, t-shirts, toiletries, tissues, stationery, pens/pencils, postage stamps, games (e.g. dominoes, playing cards, crossword puzzle books), flashlights, blankets, gloves/mittens, winter hats. Download and print the shopping list.
JCP has purchased large brown paper bags, which will be decorated by children throughout the community before they are filled. Families can participate by attending the PJ Library “Shabbat Shalom, Y’all” event at Novel bookstore on Wednesday, September 5 at 5:30 pm. There will also be other bag decorating opportunities for children and youth through synagogues or your child’s day school or religious school.
Volunteers are needed to assemble the bags once items are collected. Bags will be assembled at the JCP office on Wednesday, September 5 and Thursday, September 6, 9-11 am and 4-6 pm. Please sign up for a specific time slot by Friday, August 31. You can RSVP through your synagogue/organization or to Courtney Shemper at JCP, 901-767-7100 or cshemper@jcpmemphis.org.
“We are thrilled to be joining with our congregations, schools and agencies to help celebrate MIFA’s 50th anniversary through community service,” said Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein, JCP’s Chief Strategy Officer. “Our community partners responded immediately and enthusiastically to be a part of this initiative in giving back to MIFA, which serves such a critical role in our city. As we approach the High Holidays and reflect on how we can be better people in the year ahead, our tradition lists tzedakah (charity) as one of the deeds we should engage in as we cleanse ourselves of our past misdeeds. Letting our city’s vulnerable seniors know that we are thinking of them on their birthdays is a wonderful act of tzedakah in this pre-Rosh HaShanah season.”
JCP is proud to participate in Community Days and to support MIFA, the city’s preeminent interfaith organization. Our partnership with MIFA in Community Days is an investment in a longstanding relationship between MIFA and the Jewish community, promoting interfaith dialogue and cooperation. MIFA supports the independence of vulnerable seniors and families in crisis. Memphis Jewish Federation partners with MIFA to provide Jewish seniors with nutritious hot kosher meals at congregate meal sites and is also a partner in MIFA’s citywide No Hungry Senior initiative, further assisting food insecure seniors with home delivery of kosher frozen meals. Federation has also worked with MIFA on interfaith dialogue and hunger advocacy efforts.
To sign up to participate in Community Days, or if you have questions about the project, please contact Courtney Shemper, 901-767-7100 or cshemper@jcpmemphis.org.