B’nai Israel Celebrates Mitzvah Day May 2

SOUTHBURY — B’nai Israel, a Reform congregation, will be reaching out to the community at large to help those in need on Sunday, May 2, as part of its annual Mitzvah Day celebration. With the motto “Together we can make the world a better place,” the Social Action Committee has coordinated “mitzvah” or good deed projects for which the B’nai Israel congregants volunteer.

Some of the projects include preparing and donating meals for the GWIM soup kitchen or the Salvation Army homeless family shelter in Waterbury, clearing trails at Flanders Nature Center, visiting the homebound, singing to residents and patients of Riverglen Healthcare Center, donating business clothes for men and women enrolled in Welfare-to-Work programs.

In preparation for embarking on projects geared to the children’s emotional development, representatives from area social service organizations will come share their jobs and the people they serve with the youngest congregants enrolled in the B’nai Israel Religious School on Tuesday afternoon, April 27.

Sandy Ingellis of the Woodbury Food Bank will speak to the kindergartners who will be planting seeds and seedlings in the B’nai Israel Mitzvah Garden, and donating the produce as it ripens.

Linda Herrmann, foundation director of the Federation, Jewish Communities of Western Connecticut, will share photos and a video from her trip to Israel with the first graders who will be writing get well cards to Arab and Jewish children receiving care at the Ha-Amek Hospital located in the Afula-Gilboa region of Israel.

Kathy Lenihan of Waterbury Family Services and Chapman House will speak to the second and fourth graders. Second graders will donate or purchase with their own money a toy or game to donate to a child in residence at Chapman House. The fourth graders will hold a bake sale and donate their profits to Waterbury Family Services. In addition, each child in the fourth grade class will write a letter to local and state politicians encouraging them to attend fund raisers and vote for continued financial support to this very important social service agency.

Barbara Dublin of the Greater Waterbury Interfaith Soup Kitchen will stop by the third grade class on Mitzvah Day, Sunday morning, May 2. The third graders will be making 250 sandwiches with donated tuna or peanut butter and jelly and delivering them to the soup kitchen. Once there, they will have a tour of the facility.

 Debby Horowitz of Brownstein Jewish Family Services will explain the support her work offers to area seniors. The fifth graders will spend Mitzvah Day sharing bagels and stories with area Holocaust survivors.

Lois Nelson of Spruce Bank Farms will chat and answer questions with the sixth graders who will spend the morning helping the senior residents there with yard work and spring cleaning.

The seventh grade students will be assisting at the Red Cross Blood Drive sponsored by the Federation, Jewish Communities of Western Connecticut.

The Confirmation class will get down and dirty preparing the Mitzvah Garden for the seeds and seedlings to be planted by the kindergartners.

For more information or to volunteer or to identify any other people or agencies that could benefit from B’nai Israel’s Mitzvah Day, contact the Social Action Committee via the synagogue office 444 Main Street North or call 267-3394.