The Charlotte Jewish News - March 2009 - Page 19
Pillow Case Project to Benefit Traumatized Israeli Children
A small group of Jewish women
called the MAVINS meet monthly
for a little bit of socializing and
Torah study. At our January meet
ing, we each expressed our pro
found sadness over the crisis that
Israel is facing, and how it affects
the Israeli children who are trauma
tized by the thousands of rockets
falling within their cities. We have
come up with a community-wide
project that we hope you will allow
and encourage your children to par
ticipate in.
We want to provide Israeli chil
dren with a hands-on tangible item
that would let them know that the
Jewish children in Charlotte care
about them and wish them well. We
wanted the object to be significant
and meaningful and something that
they could wrap their arms, and
heart, around. We decided to col
lect pillow cases to distribute to
Israeli children. How comforting to
lay your head down at night and
know that someone else is thinking
about you.
The object of this project is for
your child(ren) to decorate a plain
solid or light-colored pillow case
with permanent fabric color mark
ers/crayons. Your children can use
their creativity in decorating the
pillow case(s) and can also write a
message directly on the pillow case
to an Israeli child. If your child can
not yet write, they, too, can partici
pate by perhaps painting a heart
and tracing their hands on the pil
low case and you could write a note
dictated from them and pin in on
the outside of the case.
We are asking you to donate the
pillow case(s) and have your
child(ren) decorate them at home.
Please deliver your decorated pil
low case(s) to the offices of Temple
Beth El and Temple Israel
Religious Schools, Charlotte
Jewish Day School, Preschool on
Sardis, Charlotte Jewish Preschool,
or the Consolidated Hebrew High
School no later than March 10. The
pillow cases will be boxed up and
shipped to our sister city, Hadera,
for distribution to the fraumatized
children living in harm’s way.
Our goal is to collect 300 deco
rated pillow cases. That’s a lofty
goal but with your help, we can do
this.
For more information, contact:
Randy Sperling at 704-287-2899 or
RSSPERLING@bellsouth.net or
Lorrie Klemons at 704-846-6790
or LKINCHAR @yahoo.com. ^
Youth Visions
Stand with Israel: A
BBYO Program
By MBA Sopher, Bryan
Perlmutter
With Israel just finishing bat
tling Hamas in the Gaza strip, and
with our homeland in a crisis,
Charlotte BBYO was determined
to make sure everyone became
aware of what was happening in
Israel. The four BBYO chapters
in Charlotte: Mickey Barak
Aberman, Hank Greenberg, Chai
Chaverim, and Ohavim got
together to plan a program cen
tered around Israel. The program
was held on Tuesday, January 27
and approximately 85 teens
attended.
The program started off with
the leaders of each chapter light
ing a candle and reading a story
about someone in the holocaust.
This set the tone for the program
as everyone remembered one of
the saddest times in our past. This
was also exfra special because it
was Holocaust Remembrance
Day.
Next Hagar Shahak, who is
from Israel, and now works in the
Charlotte Jewish community,
spoke about the situation in Israel.
She was able to give the teen’s
important background information
about the conflict and the history
of Israel. We then watched a slide
show to give us more information
about this situation occurring and
to get us to start thinking more in
depth of what is going on and
what we can do to help.
We then broke up into six
smaller groups where we were
given articles to read and political
cartoons to examine. In these
groups we discussed the informa
tion we had acquired from the
speaker and share our opinions of
the conflict in Israel with our
peers.
After the group discussion we
wrote our feelings and thoughts
about Israel on a peace quilt that is
a replica of Israeli flag made of
cloth. After writing on the flag we
enjoyed some fraditional Israeli
food and hung out with our peers
and further discussed the program.
Overall, the program was a suc
cess. Over 85 teens from all four
BBYO chapters in Charlotte left
the JCC with a further understand
ing of the current conflict Israel is
facing, a fun time with their
friends, and a full stomach. ^
Lily Henries and Kim Gould show off their square for
the peace quilt.
DR. JOSEPH STEINER
family and cosmetic dentistry
Drs. Steiner, Pappert & Linger
Your dental health. Our number one priority.
Treating Snoring and Sleep Apnea
Alternative Treatment to C-PAP Therapy for Patients with Sleep Apnea
Sedation Dentistry
704-523-4515
sleepapneadentistcharlotte.com
charlottecosmeticdental.com
4525 Park Rd.
Park Rd. & Montford Dr.
The Critical Need Response Fund
was launched in December to address hardships faced by residents of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
because of the economic crisis. Grants will be awarded by a task force of citizen volunteers to assist those in
need of shelter, clothes, food and warmth during the winter months.
^mnk. you
to Sandra and Leon Levine and The Leon Levine Foundation
for their generosity in making a $1 million gift to the fund
and to the volunteers serving on the Critical Need Reponse Task Force:
Amy Woods Brinkley, Co-Chair
Global Risk Executive, Bank of America
Diego Anselmo
Major, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
Ronald Carter
President, Johnson C. Smith University
David Chadwick
Senior Pastor, Forest Hill Church
Kelly Chopus
Chair, Charlotte Community Affairs Professionals
Pamela Davies
President, Queens University of Charlotte
Harvey Gantt
Managing Partner, Gantt Huberman Architects, PLLC
James Howell
Senior Pastor, Myers Park United Methodist Church
Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion
Harry Jones, Co-Chair
County Manager, Mecklenburg County
Amy Levine
The Leon Levine Foundation
Jane Lewis-Raymond
Vice President, General Counsel, Piedmont Natural Gas
Donna Lockhart
Vice President, Carolinas Healthcare System
Judy Schindler
Senior Rabbi, Temple Beth El
Tami Simmons
Director of Corporate Philanthropy, Wachovia
Ricky Woods
Senior Minister, First Baptist Church-West
Velva Woollen
Civic Leader
Richard "Stick” Williams
President, Duke Energy Foundation
Please make donations to the Critical Need Response Fund at Foundation For The Carolinas
online atwww.fftc.org or call 704.973.4588
100 percent of the fund will be used to make grants to local nonprofits with documented increases in caseloads over the winter months.
The fund is a partnership program of:
Mecklenburg ^ ^ ^ ^
Ministries The Leon Levine FounhmtionFor
K.nMnntxr^^ Foundation IlSHaa TheCarounas
Igniting Mucemsm