The hard working members of the Social Action Committee include Roz Edelson, Bernice Fox, Karen Herschovic, Lenore Hollaway, Judi Hyman, Tish Levy, Cheryle Miller, Susan Miller, Ellen Mundell and Lyla Nathan. Barb Tomin, Ethel Schy, Carol Swanson and Andy Goldman have retired from the committee this year. We thank you all for your wonderful work.

Carolyn Metz is our staff representative and Rabbi Miller comes to most meetings.
We had another busy and successful year. We started off the High Holidays having conversations at Rosh Ha Shana and Yom Kippur. The theme this year was How we engage one another through conversation. These conversations are always an opportunity to get to know each other and our stories.

The Soup Sisters have made soup a few times this year. We hope that people enjoy having a littlte something from us when they or someone they know is need of TLC. We sometimes have difficulty knowing who needs the soup. We are always looking for ways to improve our outreach.
We continue to go to the Redwood Empire Food Bank on the first Wed. of the Month. The dates for the summer are July 1st and August 5th, 10-12. This past year we had many of our young adults join us pack fruit and vegetables. It is a great way to do a Mitzvah and also have good conversation with old or new friends. Please consider a trip to the food bank. I think you will be very impressed with the facility and what they do to help those who need some extra food.

A big congratulations to the entire Beth Ami Community for supporting JFCS by bringing canned foods to the synagogue. They say that we are doing a wonderful job providing healthy food for their pantry. Please continue the fantastic support that we have given over the last 3 years!
The SAC also goes to the Redwood Empire Food Bank the 3rd Monday of every month to get food specifically to stock the pantry at JFCS.
We also encourage members to bring their slightly used clothes to the Goodwill drop off box at the Coffee Teen Shelter which is run by SAY (Social Advocates for Youth). The Coffee House is for teens who are in crisis at home and need a safe place for a limited time. The teens can get vouchers from Goodwill to buy clotes at their stores. They are located at 1243 Ripley St., Santa Rosa.

They also take food at anytime and we have delivered to them after a big event that had surplus food.
Recently a few of us, along with Rabbi Miller, went to the keshet conference at the JCC in Marin. Keshet (which means rainbow in Hebrew) is a national organization whose main goal is to provide a welcoming and safe Jewish experience for the LGBTQ community. We are hoping to form a committee to persue ways to make Beth Ami even more welcoming than it already is.

We are a small committee and would love to have a few more committed members who want to join our quest to make Beth Ami a home for all, and an exciting place to engage with one another as we do Mitzvot. we meet once a month at Beth Ami. Have a wonderful summer!