Family Promise Grocery Support Over the Top!

Shomrei partnered with Family Promise to provide groceries for two families living in temporary housing. Not only were enough groceries collected for the two families, but there were enough groceries to stock the Family Promises food pantry. Also, twenty $25 Shop Rite gift cards were donated to provide families in food crises some emergency relief. And there were still enough dry goods to fill Shomrei’s Little Pantry.

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It’s Getting Cold Out There!

The days are shorter, and the temperature is dropping. It’s that time of year to go through the kid’s clothes and see what winter clothing still fits.

From my experience raising three sons, it always gave me pleasure to know that, after my boys had moved up to the next size, there was someone to whom these clothes could be passed and who might benefit from them.

In our Shomrei Community of Giving, there is an easy way to pass along outgrown clothes.
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Teen Squad MESH, Oct 22, 2024

On Monday evening, Shomrei teens came together to volunteer for MESH and formed the Teen Squad, led by Jordan with help from Collin and Eva.  Collin also brought the cookies for the dinner dessert. MESH Mentor Fern Heinig planned the menu and did the shopping. The Squad ate pizza while organizing the tasks ahead and then went to work. Continue reading

Yom Kippur, Haftorah Introduction: Becoming a Community of Giving

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova.

As we all gather this morning, in the midst of a meaningful fast and without that morning coffee I know I am missing right now…I have the privilege of talking to you about, what else? Food…and housing, and the basics of the blessings of what it means to have enough…

And thinking about our neighbors and friends who don’t. Continue reading

MESH Report Oct 8, 2024

Five friendly MESH volunteers gathered in the Shomrei kitchen on Tuesday to prepare 50 hearty and tasty meals for our MESH guests. Chef Lynne Kurzweil shopped for the food at Costco, ShopRite and the Fooderie and MESH CoChair Aileen Grossberg stopped at Amazing Savings to stock up on our packing supplies.  (When you shop at the Fooderie, please remember to thank Ari from  Meat Maven for giving Shomrei a nice discount on chicken drumsticks). Helpers were Susan Rosenblatt, Carole Rothman, Carol Blau and Julie Weinstein.

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MESH Report Sept 24, 2024

 

Chef Aileen Grossberg planned an easy to prepare meal with minimum prep and cooking time. Sous chefs Alex Kent, Lynne Kurzweil , Carole Rothman and new volunteer Julie Weinstein were totally up to the tasks of cutting tomatoes and lettuce, roasting corn, doling out chili sauce and preparing the other parts of the meal until——the ovens wouldn’t work. No gas to the burners.

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MESH Report Sept 10, 2024

The Carol Starr MESH Cafe at Shomrei was back in the swing after our summer hiatus. Chef Lynne Kurzweil, along with the pro team of Alex Kent, Joan Zief and Linda Wieseneck, pulled off a splendid feast supplementing ample leftovers from Noa Baird’s bat mitzvah which were graciously donated by Rabbi Julie and Justus. Continue reading

MESH Update

MESH volunteers will be happy to hear that Joe Tyson is back working at MESH at the Bloomfield Avenue site. Volunteers who drop off Shomrei’s prepared meals will undoubtedly be greeted by one of MESH’s Joes – Tyson or Granger.

Though it’s been summer and we have not been preparing meals in the Shomrei kitchen, MESH has been the beneficiary of our excess food at kiddushes. The need for food has not decreased. MESH feeds upwards of 75 people 6 nights a week. Continue reading