One of the proudest, most memorable moments of my life occurred soon after I turned six years old, when my name appeared in our local paper, the New Haven Register. And, thanks to my mom, a”h, who was as sentimental as I am, I have it documented in the original yellowing clipping, headlined, “Register Fresh Air Fund Reaches Total of $18,637.”
The Register Fresh
Air Fund was an initiative of our hometown paper to raise money to send local
indigent children to camp. Together with my neighborhood friends, Beth, Lizzy,
and Lynn, our Lemonade, Cookie, and Candy sale raised $21, a respectable
donation, considering we charged a mere two cents per item!
Twin Motivations
When I shared this
fact with the 10-year-old Guttenberg twins of Baltimore – tzedaka-raising entrepreneurs after my own heart – they exclaimed, in
unison, “Two cents????” – after which they mentioned that they charge $1 for a
12-oz. cup of lemonade that comes with a fancy straw and a free Sunkist Fruit
Gem!
In addition to manning
their lemonade stand to raise money for Chai Lifeline, Yosef and Yehuda
Guttenberg, who attend Talmudical Academy, have been collecting money from
their neighbors and relatives since they were seven. They heard about the
organization – and its prizes, like a game watch and handheld video games –
while in TA camp. “I wanted to help sick kids; I know how I feel when I have
fever, and what they have is a thousand times worse,” explains Yosef. “We’ve
collected as much as $350,” notes Yehuda, who says that he feels good knowing
he is helping people in need. Yosef concurs, adding that he is happy knowing
that these kids are having a good summer.
Mary Poppins AIMs to Raise Money
Meira Berendt
passionately heads a licensed performing arts group for frum women 18 and up – comprised of singles, mothers, and
grandmothers who make this a priority. The all-volunteer by-women-for-women’s
group will be performing Mary Poppins and
donating the entire proceeds to AIM (The Association for Infants and Mothers).
This incredible organization provides free suppers, cleaning help, babysitting,
and more for postpartum women in our community. Any woman who has had a baby
and lives in Baltimore is eligible, regardless of income, shul affiliation, or
number of family members in town.
Says Meira, “This
will be a very high-level production. It is 100 percent volunteers. We’ve put
our own money towards building a professional set in The Panther Theatre in
Carroll County, a gorgeous new theatre that seats over 800.”
The show, which
started production prep in December 2023, is scheduled for this December 22 and
23. The cast – approximately 40 core members, including extra dancers and
chorus singers – started its twice weekly practices after Pesach.
“We wanted to give
the proceeds to an organization, and AIM was not well established yet,” recalls
Meira. “Since it’s a women’s production, we thought it was fitting to give the
money to an all-women organization.”
After much
research, Meira discovered that if you use a professional theatre and an
existing play, you must get licensed through Musical Theatre International
(MTI). So she did. “Not every Broadway show is available to be licensed,” she
says. “We are using the original score and script, and the original
choreography has been available for us to look at as well. I wanted to pick a
fun family show that was very kosher. Being licensed means that it is more
complicated to change a show – to take out or add a piece – so we needed to
pick a show that was already ‘kosher,’ where we wouldn’t have to take out or
add in massive chunks to make it suitable for our audience.”
Meira mentions
that sponsorships are available prior to ticket sales. Contact her at meiralevi613@gmail.com.
Books, Books, and More Books
Since 2012, Devora
Schor has had people drop off used books of Jewish content so she can resell
them and donate the proceeds to tzedaka.
She has brought in a total of $29,885, mostly in $1 or $2 increments.
“I have two
locations,” notes Devora, “the shed on the side of my house at 6016 Clover Road
and the Savings Center, where the owners have graciously allowed me to sell the
books in their store at no cost. The hard part is that people are always ready
to give me books, but I don’t have enough people interested in the books I
have. A used book is just as much fun to read as a new book, so if you are
looking for something to read, come and browse.”
Shira Tenenbaum
has also been busy collecting books to raise funds for tzedaka. Since the end of 2020, she has raised hundreds of dollars
for the Jewish Caring Network (JCN). “After I finished Maalot, I realized so
many girls needed textbooks,” says Shira. “Knowing how expensive they are, I
asked anyone who was finished with her textbook to donate it to a textbook gemach I was starting. Every year, girls
borrow these textbooks instead of having to pay a few hundred dollars for them.
It’s only $5 per textbook, and all the proceeds go to JCN. At this point, I
have a few hundred textbooks.”
Those interested
in borrowing the textbooks can email shiratenenbaum@gmail.com
or text 443-791-5267. She will leave them on her porch labeled with your name.
At the end of the semester, the textbooks are dropped off at her house so
students can continue to save money while helping a vital organization in our
community.
A Cause Thrives Thanks to Clothing Drives
Rabbi Binyomin
(B.J.) Newmark, a native Baltimorean who settled with his family in Lakewood,
is the founder/director of Batya, a kiruv
organization for high school teenage girls. In Baltimore, Batya works with JEP (Jewish
Education Program) Maryland as the teen girls program, know as Batya Maryland.
As its website batyagirls.org notes, “Batya’s programs give teens the
opportunity to explore the wonder within themselves, building enduring
relationships and developing a true sense of pride and identity as a person and
as a Jew.”
With branches throughout New Jersey, New York,
and in Florida, Illinois, and Maryland, Batya touches the lives of hundreds of
girls with its weekly fun and upbeat programming, “Shabbatyas,” and an
incredible array of trips and special events, including a ski retreat and its W.O.W.
(Week on Wheels) summer road trip.
“To meet a budget
of over a million dollars, I’ve always had the idea of starting a business to
support the organization,” says Rabbi Newmark, founder/president of Pick
Purple. “We did a clothing drive and discovered that there is actually money in
the used clothing industry. It is in demand by thrift shops and overseas –
where they don’t look for the quality and condition that people want over here.
So we got into the industry and started off in Brooklyn. Today, we have clothing
drives throughout the greater New York-New Jersey area, in Florida, Illinois,
and in Baltimore. It nets about half of our budget.”
It was a learning
process for Rabbi Newmark. He explains, “The used clothing collection bins that
organizations typically place outdoors in parking lots are prone to moldiness. My
mindset was to provide the best and most convenient way to donate. All you have
to do is go to our PickPurple.org website and type in your zip code. In
Lakewood and Monsey, for example, you are given four options, and you can
schedule the pickup yourself. You will get a text one stop prior to yours and
will be emailed a tax-deductible receipt within minutes. As of now, Baltimore
has pickups once a week (in addition to the option of dropping bags of clothing
off in the backyard of 3400 Seven Mile Lane). Our plan is to expand the
Maryland route.”
The better quality
and condition clothing collected goes to clothing gemachs in Monsey, Monroe,
Lakewood, and Eretz Yisrael. Torn or stained clothing goes into the garbage,
and Pick Purple ends up paying the disposal fee. The remainder goes to thrift
shops overseas. In today’s economy, says Rabbi Newmark, when a lot of the
wealthier people are not able to donate as much money as they once did, Pick
Purple is all the more important. “One reason I like to use used clothing as a
business is because it leverages against the market,” concludes Rabbi Newmark. “Used
clothing is up when the market is down. Of course, everything is yad Hashem.”
To schedule a
pick-up, visit pickpurple.org or call 201-47-purple (78775).
Giving of Ourselves
The Cross Country
Boulevard porch of Mrs. Laya Hochberg’s, a”h,
was her personal clothing drop-off center, when people left their packages of
only-in-good-condition clothing.
“She would look
through each piece, making sure it wasn’t stained or ripped and was in style,”
recalls Brachi Soltz, Mrs. Hochberg’s daughter. “She would sort the clothes and
put them in the correct bins in the basement – blue bins for the boys clothes,
pink bins for the girls clothes. She also had a small men’s section and some
shoes and belts. At one point, my old bedroom became the overflow suit
department!
“My mother would
invite people in. I think it was more about how she gave than what she gave. She
took an individual interest in each person, and after a while, she knew the
style of clothing that each person liked. She also had a lot of siyata d’shmaya. People would say they
needed exactly this size, and she would find exactly that item on her porch.
When my mother was in the hospital, she got a call from a man who said he
needed shirts. I went into her house and saw, sitting right there, a bag that
contained two men’s shirts in the exact size he needed!”
Mrs. Hochberg not
only covertly clothed our community for years, she also fed people. “She could
be accepting leftover food from simchas at 10 or 11 p.m.,” adds Brachi. She
always had a stash of foil pans in the house and packed and distributed the
food with care and with a focus on the individual.”
Mrs. Hochberg’s
giving of her time and energy to others – in addition to the tzedaka she gave – also included years
of housing everyone from Bais Yaakov boarders (including those escaping Iran)
to Jewish foster children and those whose parents were unable to care for them.
“The most amazing
thing is that she kept up with these people; that’s what made it special,”
concludes Brachi. “They became part of our family. She did so many things and
did them so quietly – even we who were living in the house don’t know the
extent of what she gave of herself!”
