{"id":28225,"date":"2018-03-23T03:52:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T10:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=28225"},"modified":"2021-06-07T19:45:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T02:45:09","slug":"helping-more-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/03\/23\/helping-more-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping more families"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Feb. 20, students at Vancouver Hebrew Academy packaged more than 200 mishloach manot bags full of non-perishable food items donated by the Marine Drive and Grandview Superstore locations. (photo from VHA)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The atmosphere at the Jewish Food Bank on Feb. 22 at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture was almost festive. Adults chatted, kids played, as people made their way through the various lines. Vancouver Hebrew Academy students had already come and gone \u2013 having delivered more than 200 mishloach manot packages in anticipation of Purim \u2013 and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould had stopped in to visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were thrilled to be able to distribute the Purim packages through the food bank,\u201d Rabbi Don Pacht, VHA head of school, told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cIt was the idea of Hodie Kahn and Rachael Lewinski, two die-hard VHA enthusiasts \u2026 Hodie is a past VHA parent and board member, Rachael is a current VHA parent (and a VHA alum) and board member. They have been largely responsible for building the program to where it is today. They saw this as a great way to bring the lesson of Purim into living colour. So much of the Purim theme revolves around helping others and bringing community together to celebrate \u2013 think mitzvot of sending food to neighbours and charitable gifts to those in need. What better way to celebrate as a community than to bring the joy of Purim to more and more families?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Several VHA students and teachers delivered the mishloach manot bags to the Jewish Food Bank on Feb. 22. (photo from VHA)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a powerful symbol of love and friendship among our community,\u201d said Richard Fruchter, Jewish Family Services chief executive officer, about the mishloach manot project in the agency\u2019s February e-newsletter. He also noted that, during Wilson-Raybould\u2019s visit, the minister spoke \u201cwith JFS about food security, housing and mental health services. She connected with the dozens of volunteers and hundreds of clients who benefit from this twice-a-month service.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the items provided in the 200-plus mishloach manot gift bags were donated by two Real Canadian Superstore locations: Marine Drive and Grandview. \u201cAnd they have [donated] for several years now,\u201d said Pacht, stressing his gratitude.<\/p>\n

In years past, the initiative has included other Jewish schools \u2013 Vancouver Talmud Torah, Richmond Jewish Day School, King David High School, Pacific Torah Institute and Shalhevet Girls High School \u2013 and \u201cwas an avenue to raise funds for all of the Jewish day schools,\u201d said Pacht, as people donated to have Purim packages sent to friends, family and colleagues. Run under the umbrella of VHA, it was the \u201cVancouver Jewish Day Schools Purim Project,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn past years, we have hosted the event at KDHS and had students from all the schools participate in various capacities,\u201d explained the rabbi. \u201cVTT, VHA and RJDS students packing, KDHS students setting up and cleaning up, PTI and Shalhevet students picking up items from Superstore, etc. We also have had parents from all of the schools volunteer their time to assist the packing process and deliver the packages on Purim day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, we took a step back and did not run the program as a fundraiser. With only 200 packages being prepared, that were then distributed through the Jewish Food Bank, we managed the entire process in-house.\u201d<\/p>\n

VHA also sent out \u201ca mailing containing a Purim kit, with some information about the holiday and a few practical goodies as well,\u201d said Pacht.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat started in Ruth Huberman\u2019s living room \u2013 at the time she was a VHA parent and board member (she now has several grandchildren attending VHA) \u2013 preparing about 100 packages, mushroomed into a program that reached the farthest corners of our community. We have over 1,200 families we connect with each year!\u201d he said. \u201cAfter 10 years of doing the same thing, we found it difficult to maintain the same momentum and enthusiasm. We are looking at various alternative models for next year. Something to refresh the program and keep the community engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Feb. 20, students at Vancouver Hebrew Academy packaged more than 200 mishloach manot bags full of non-perishable food items donated by the Marine Drive and Grandview Superstore locations. (photo from VHA) The atmosphere at the Jewish Food Bank on Feb. 22 at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture was almost festive. Adults chatted, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[8426,7702,4384,3285,529,3332],"class_list":["post-28225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-don-pacht","tag-jewish-family-services","tag-jewish-food-bank","tag-richard-fruchter","tag-vancouver-hebrew-academy","tag-vha"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}