{"id":32033,"date":"2019-03-08T03:45:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T11:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=32033"},"modified":"2019-03-06T12:38:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T20:38:16","slug":"helping-roses-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/03\/08\/helping-roses-angels\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Rose\u2019s Angels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of the 70 volunteers who helped out at Rose\u2019s Angels Feb. 17. Event founder Courtney Cohen is holding the bags and Kehila Society executive director Lynne Fader is standing in the front, with the long sweater. (photo by Lianne Cohen Photography)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For most people, getting out of the house and being somewhere by 9 a.m. might be no big deal. For me, especially on a weekend morning, it\u2019s a challenge. But, at least once a year, it\u2019s a challenge I enjoy.<\/p>\n

As the owner and editor of the Jewish Independent<\/em>, I\u2019ve known of Rose\u2019s Angels since it launched six years ago, but only first participated last year in the packing of the more than 1,000 care packages for Metro Vancouverites in need. Courtney Cohen, who created the annual event in honour of her grandmothers, Rose Lewin and Babs Cohen, with longtime friend Lynne Fader, was among the 18 Jewish community members under the age of 36 who were honoured by the Jewish Independent<\/em> with a JI Chai Award in December 2017 for doing good. Having made the personal connection, I headed out to Richmond Jewish Day School a couple of months after the JI Chai Celebration to help out. It was such a fun experience that I went again this year.<\/p>\n

The atmosphere at RJDS is like \u201cOld Home Week.\u201d This time around, I drove there with a friend \u2013 she brought the muffins and I made the coffee. As before, I ran into several people that I don\u2019t see often. A well-organized venture, Rose\u2019s Angels, which is run under the auspices of the Kehila Society of Richmond, provides coffee and pastry for those who can wait till they get to the school for their fix. Lists taped onto the wall tell volunteers at which station they\u2019ll be working.<\/p>\n

I must have done an OK job last year because I was once again assigned to putting together glove and sock bundles, wrapped in ribbon, colour-coded to indicate whether the bundle was for men, women or children. So absorbed was I in the work and conversation that I can\u2019t say what others were doing, but there was much bustling about and, by noon, a big truck and several cars were stuffed with boxes to be delivered.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Volunteers put together 1,200 care packages, which were distributed to those in need by various social services agencies and programs. (photo by Lianne Cohen Photography)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year, said Cohen, 70 volunteers put together 1,200 packages, filled with necessities from toiletries to books to food to warm clothing, thanks to donations of items and money. The packages were distributed by a couple dozen organizations, including Turning Point Recovery Society, Heart of Richmond AIDS Society, Light of Shabbat program, Jewish Food Bank, Richmond Food Bank, United Way, Tikva Housing, Richmond Centre for Disability, Touchstone Family Services, St. Alban\u2019s Drop-In Centre, Richmond Mental Health Society and Richmond Food Aid.<\/p>\n

Scheduled to happen around Valentine\u2019s Day, this year\u2019s Rose\u2019s Angels took place Feb. 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching firsthand our community come together to give back on a long weekend, with family and friends is quite amazing,\u201d Cohen told me when I asked her what was the most fun aspect of the day for her. \u201cSeeing people of all ages working together to help package the care packages in such an organized manner is really something to behold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fader, who is co-executive director of the Kehila Society, also enjoys the communal feel, as well as the diversity of the group that gathers to help. \u201cIt is always a fun, well-spirited, well-oiled machine that puts months of hard work gathering all the items together to produce a beautiful bundle of items,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In looking to the future, Fader would like to see the annual event become \u201cbigger, better,\u201d serving \u201cmore recipients in our community,\u201d referring to Richmond as a whole, not only its Jewish community. \u201cAlthough Rose\u2019s Angels is an annual project,\u201d she added, \u201cthe Kehila Society is daily working with our community agencies and partners to assist on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI see the success of Rose\u2019s Angels growing from year to year with the involvement of the community partners and individuals,\u201d said Cohen. \u201cPersonally, I already see the success and fulfilment that Rose\u2019s Angels has given our community at large. Receiving thank you phone calls, emails and messages from the recipient agencies reminds me of the impact that Rose\u2019s Angels is making to so many individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the 70 volunteers who helped out at Rose\u2019s Angels Feb. 17. Event founder Courtney Cohen is holding the bags and Kehila Society executive director Lynne Fader is standing in the front, with the long sweater. (photo by Lianne Cohen Photography) For most people, getting out of the house and being somewhere by 9 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3233,3231,3232,3230,1959],"class_list":["post-32033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-courtney-cohen","tag-kehila-society","tag-lynne-fader","tag-roses-angels","tag-tikkun-olam"],"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\/32033","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=32033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}