It was frigid outside but warm – even hot – in the Shomrei kitchen as Chef Sarita Eisenberg prepared 20 meals with assistance from Shirley Grill and Susan Rosenblatt and special thanks to Lou Hammerman for doing the shopping.
Tag Archives: Shirley Grill
MESH Report Dec 14, 2021
Chef Lynne Kurzweil was on deck along with Sous Chef (and Jill of all Trades) Shirley Grill. The bags were prepped and prepared in Lynne’s kitchen and brought to Shomrei for 3:45 pm pickup by MESH Staffer, Joe Tyson. Many thanks also to Ehud Klinger who is always ready, willing and able to help out MESH volunteers. Continue reading
MESH Report Nov 2, 2021
Shirley and David Grill and Linda Ariel planned, shopped and prepared 20 nutritious Grab and Go Meals at the Grills’ home and delivered them to the MESH Staff for distribution. The meals are now handed out at Shomrei on Tuesdays at or about 4 pm. The hearty bags included:
Menu:
Chicken fingers and potato puffs, kale salad, baby carrots, Swiss rolls, breakfast cookies, clementines and water! Continue reading
MESH Report Oct. 12, 2021
On Tuesday afternoon, Lynne and Aileen prepared 20 Grab N Go Meals. Shirley Grill contributed dessert then helped with packing and delivery. The eco friendly bag contained a hearty portion of Fish Sticks with ketchup, baby carrots and grape tomatoes with a hummus cup for dipping, a club roll, a banana, and mini brownies black and white cookies and an 8 oz water bottle and a plastic silverware packet including salt and pepper. The meal was nutritionally sound, complete, tasty, easy to put together and relatively inexpensive. Continue reading
Being There for Family Promise
As so many of you know, Shomrei has hosted homeless families with young children in our synagogue since 1988 as part of the Interfaith Hospitality Network (now Family Promise). Twice a year, for a week at a time, for over 30 years, 50 caring volunteers have cooked food for the families, entertained the children and slept over as nighttime guardians. Because of the pandemic, we have not hosted families since December 2019 and the entire congregational shelter network remains shuttered. For 18 months, Family Promise (FP) has been sheltering families in hotels and shifting more resources into its other missions — stabilizing those on the verge of homeless with rental assistance and case management. FP needs even more financial support to continue to support vulnerable families, particularly as the moratorium on evictions is lifted and many more parents and children face homelessness.
Even though we can’t host families for now, we can be there for them and for Family Promise. Here are two wonderful opportunities to help: Continue reading
Shomrei’s Thanksgiving Food Drive 2020
During the pandemic, many citizens have lost their jobs, have had their work hours cut, and have found that the limited resources they had no longer suffice. In times like these, it is fortunate that Montclair has caring institutions to support people until the national economic crisis improves.
At Shomrei, we have been concerned about the ever-expanding food insecurity in our town. One of our ongoing efforts has been our work in providing weekly dinners for people through MESH.
The Shomrei Social Action Committee created a subcommittee during Summer 2020 that would focus on food insecurity. One of our first initiatives was to connect with the Human Needs Food Pantry to collaborate on their annual Thanksgiving collection. Continue reading
Protesting during COVID
Generally, attending a protest is not a hard decision for me—find your walking shoes, grab a sign and go. Yet COVID has made this a wrenching decision—how do you isolate yourself to stop the spread of one disease and step out to stop the ravages of racism and hate.
After 12 weeks of self-imposed quarantine, the protests compelled me to step out. As I weighed the risks, I saw the risk of very few people showing up as greater than the risk of my getting infected. And while I know that protests do not change the world overnight, silence kills.
Each one of us must judge our tolerance for risk, this time the risk of remaining silent was greater than the risk of becoming ill.
Tributes to Vivien Lichter
On Sunday, April 19, there was a touching memorial for Vivien Lichter. Many of the speakers at the service were Shomrei people – Rabbi Greenstein, Toby Stein, Aileen Grossberg, Dale Russakoff and me [Shirley Grill] – and our stories were about Viv and Shomrei…It felt like a story of Shomrei as well as Vivien.
MESH Report Mar 31, 2020
Many thanks to Shirley and David Grill for contributing 30 takeaway meals for our MESH guests this past Tuesday evening. The bags were prepared by the Watchung Deli and included: 27 Turkey on Rye, 3 Vegetarian Sandwiches, chips, cookies and a water bottle. The deli delivered the sandwiches to Karen Altman, who included a note in each bag with the menu and a message from Shomrei to stay safe, healthy and to follow social distancing! Karen brought the meals to the Salvation Army driveway where the MESH Staff removed them from her trunk and distributed them to the MESH guests who were already lined up. Many thanks to Karen! Continue reading
It’s Time to Bowl, Bowl, Bowl!
Dear Friends,
I am writing with an odd request—as a member of HOMECorp’ s board, I have been asked to form a Shomrei bowling team for one of HOMECorp’ s most energetic fundraisers—a BOWL-A-Thon. It’s a corny and fun event and it raises a good deal of money for the agency. What I need are 6 courageous bowlers who are willing to spend Sunday afternoon, January 26 at Eagle Rock Lanes! The entry fee is $100 per bowler or $600 per team. The fee includes shoes and snacks. And if you can’t bowl, will you be a sponsor? More details below…and many thanks to all of you! Continue reading