There is no greater mandate than to leave this world better than we found it. The obligation to perform gemilut hasadim (acts of loving kindness) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) are pervasive precepts in our work. Either independently or in conjunction with other agencies, Women’s League provides a multitude of opportunities for helping others:
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Before your region’s Spring Conference, WL encourages all Sisterhoods to participate in WLCJ’s Project Stock the Shelves! Many of our Sisterhoods are already engaged in wonderful projects to assist with food insecurity and the needs of their community members. Please gather food donations and work with local food pantries in your area to help fulfill the needs of those less fortunate. You can take these easy steps:
- Select a local food pantry or other site in your area (could be a women’s shelter or other place that will take donations of items/cash).
- Contact the site to get a list of needed items or use the WLCJ Social Action list (January is cereal and shelf-stable milk/non-dairy products; February is peanut butter or other non-nut butters, i.e. sunflower butter and jelly).
- Shop and drop off items to the collection site in your area. Some Sisterhoods have the option to use their synagogue, while others do not.
- An alternate option is to have your members make a cash/check donation to a specific pantry, site, community organization feeding those in need.
- At Virtual Convention 2020, Women’s League’s introduced its special social action project benefiting The Ark, a Chicago area Jewish social service agency. Members created hand made no-sew fleece blankets and tee shirt shoppings. How-to videos were included. For details, click here.
- At Convention 2017, Women’s League’s introduced its special social action project called Mathilde’s Mentionables, in honor of founder Mathilde Schechter. It was a program to collect bras of all types for women in need in shelters or victims of natural disasters. Over 5,000 bras were collected for Convention 2017 and regions and sisterhoods have continued the program on the local level.
- Women’s League encourages making synagogues and sisterhoods accessible to persons with special needs.
- We are partners with Sharsheret, a national not-for-profit organization supporting Jewish women and their families facing breast cancer. They offer a community of support to women, of all Jewish backgrounds, diagnosed with breast cancer or at increased genetic risk, by fostering connections with networks of peers, health professionals, and related resources.
- Members of sisterhoods across the continent volunteer in shelters, serve meals in soup kitchens, tutor special children, and visit the sick and elderly, those in hospitals and institutions