Shalom Haverim!

First off I would like to thank Karen Gould for all her hard work in preparing the Shofar for these past years. Her professionalism and patience with everyone has been greatly appreciated. I wish her much success in her new endeavors. And now a huge thanks in advance to Irvin Klein for taking on the position of editing the Shofar. Todah Rabah!

Helping the hungry in Sonoma County has been a big part of our work this last year. We have collaborated with the Redwood Empire Food Bank and Jewish Family and Children Services.

We continue to collect food for JFCS. The bins are in the foyer. Please consider bringing a can or two when you come to the synagogue. And also consider the dietary needs of the people. Many are on low sodium diets, thanks! The food bank presented a ‘hands on’ seminar on Hunger. We have volunteered several times there, both in the morning and in the evenings, packing fresh fruit and produce. These events have been well attended. Sometimes they have had too many volunteers and not enough work and we have questioned whether we could be more helpful somewhere else. An opportunity has come up.

Jewish Family and Children Services has asked us to collaborate with them to provide food to their clients. They buy much of their food from the food bank and they also want to give out their free produce. The committee decided that we want to work for JFCS as it is a Jewish organization (although many of their clients are not Jewish) and they really need our help . We are in the planning stages but we will hopefully soon begin a bi-monthly volunteer commitment. However it will only be in the weekday mornings. I know that many people cannot make it in the mornings so we will still do a few evenings at the the Redwood Empire Food Bank. They have moved to a new facility near the Sonoma County Airport. It is much larger than the old one. I will make an evening date soon.

Carolyn Metz and I recently visited the principal at Spring Creek Elementary School ( across the street from Beth Ami). We went to discuss ways in which we could be good neighbors and build community. They have a garden the students work in on Wed. mornings. They also prepare food using the vegetables they pick. It is an organized program but I am hoping that we can join them before school ends in June. I know some people are interested in gardening so hopefully this can grow into something

We continue to try and make our community more welcoming and strong. We will have our next meeting on Thus, May 2 at 6:00 at CBA. We always welcome new faces.

Lyla Nathan
Social Action Committee