A Mitzvah a Day

I was reading an article in the July issue of Women’s Day called Recession Angels. It’s about three women in different parts of the country who are helping those in need. The first woman profiled operates a child care facility. She offered free daycare service to parents who have been laid off from their jobs, so that their kids are cared for while they are searching for a new job. The second woman organized a Clothing and Toy Exchange. Families donated things that their kids have outgrown, and anyone in the community, whether they donated anything or not, could come and take what they needed for free. The third woman created the Foreclosure Angel Foundation to lend a hand to people who need some help to get through a crisis so that they can stay in their homes.

In the July issue of Parenting - School Years magazine, there is an article called Homeless in the Suburbs. The stories of three families, in three different parts of the country, are reported. They are all experiencing tough times due to the economic downturn.

As I read, I felt very proud of my Sisterhood because I know that we have an ongoing community service project to provide new and gently used clothing to a local elementary school where there is a large population of families in need. Even though I always participate in our group collection efforts, I now feel compelled to do more personally. After reading these articles and thinking “oh how terrible for these families” I could not just close the magazines and walk away from these issues. I wanted to share the information because together we can have the chance to have a positive effect on the people in need in our NoVA community.

This year Women’s League launched a program called Mitzvah Yomit – A Mitzvah A Day. Everyday we have the opportunity to do things to help repair our world. WLCJ has created a 3x5 inch pamphlet that unfolds into a list of Berakhot, as well as a list of ideas to help us all get started with performing a Mitzvah a day. It’s a great tool to remind us all of the possibilities before us and how we can easily fit many of them into our lives. Whether or not you have a copy of the pamphlet in your hands, if we all embrace the concept, and work together, we can make a big impact.

If your organization is looking for a Tzedakah project for the coming year, maybe you will be inspired by one of the women referenced above. Or maybe you will be moved to help families who are homeless. The article on homelessness included a box called “how to help” and gave the following resources: www.serve.org/nche to find your school district’s Local Homeless Education Liaison to help you find the people who need you; www.nationalhomeless.org to find a local group you could volunteer with to lend your expertise in something like resume writing, or babysitting to help job hunters; www.familyhomelessness.org to donate to a group dedicated specifically to helping homeless families. If you start at this site and shop at certain online stores like www.amazon.com, the organization will receive a donation at no cost to you; and at the site for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (www.naehcy.org), you can donate to a scholarship fund.

If you already have a Tzedakah project, please share what it is with the NoVA community. If we are aware of each others efforts, we can all help each other. What are you collecting? What organizations are you supporting? What items are needed? Please post comments to let us know and let’s all share in doing a mitzvah a day.