From MESH Co-Chair Aileen Grossberg:

Although Shomrei did not serve MESH guests this past Tuesday because of the logistics of Rosh Hashanah, we did meet on Thursday. That was the evening when co-chairs Lynne Kurzweil and Aileen Grossberg welcomed MESH volunteers, both new and experienced, to our annual orientation.

Lynne Kurzweil and Aileen Grossberg, MESH co-chairs, prepared a tasty and economical meal of kale salad, bourekas, spanakopita, and mini quiches with fruit and babka with non-dairy ice cream for dessert.

The meal was meant to highlight ways to use prepared food, items from the pantry, and leftovers in the weekly MESH meal. Aileen and Lynne emphasized that semi-homemade was both economical and time efficient and that food items left from the weekly Kiddush can usually be incorporated into a MESH menu.

Though it may seem to be contradictory, MESH cooks need to both plan ahead and be flexible to make the most of limited financial resources that are allocated to Shomrei’s MESH Café. While most of the other local MESH sites can use contributions from local restaurants and food stores –tremendous amounts of food go to waste every day, because of our commitment to kashrut, we must make sure that everything that comes into the building is properly certified.

Lynne and Aileen also stressed the fact that we treat the people who come to Shomrei every Tuesday from September to May as guests. We have become known among the MESH guests for the quality of our food and the ambiance that we provide.

According to Melanie Grossberg and Steve Hoviss, new volunteers featured in the photo above, “The MESH orientation was extremely enlightening & insightful. We look forward to participating again in the future. Thanks to everyone at Shomrei who makes MESH a weekly reality.”

New cooks, helpers, and servers are always needed. The time commitment can be tailored for individual schedules. No experience is required. New MESHIES are invited to shadow an experienced volunteer in order to learn the special procedures.

To help out with MESH,  go to: shomrei.org/volunteer

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Aileen Grossberg

Aileen Grossberg, a professional librarian, is a long-time congregant and serves as volunteer librarian for Shomrei's Lampert Library. The library, one of the best-kept secrets at Shomrei is used by the Rabbi, congregants, students and teachers of the JLC (Hebrew School) and Preschool. It's a tremendous resource completely supported by your donations and gifts. Aileen also heads the Shomrei Caterers, the in-house food preparation group. Can there be any better combination…good food and good books!

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