In my last article I thanked our tremendous TKC volunteers that work so hard to keep our temple facilities operational, looking good and code compliant. Volunteerism at TKC, however, is not limited to maintenance and renovations. Instead, our Kehillah is filled with fun and fulfilling opportunities for our members and their families to engage and make our local community and community at large a better place for all. Here are a few of those opportunities.
TKC has been a long-standing supporter of the Drake House. The Drake House is a local organization that supports single mothers and their children who are in need. It offers crisis housing that is financially supported by the community, along with career support, life skills support and advocacy. TKC provides financial contributions towards an apartment on the Drake House’s premises, and it helps furnish the apartment for its tenants. One of our members also acts as a budget advisor to the person that is staying in our sponsored apartment, and I understand that they are looking for a teen advisor/mentor right now. If you are interested in becoming involved in supporting the Drake House, please reach out to Mark Kunzman (markkunzman@gmail.com), who is our lead organizer, or the contact the office.
Our members also work with a local church food pantry to help provide food to families in a food supply crisis. The purpose of the program is to provide those families enough food to get them through their crisis. A couple of Thursday evenings each month our members, often with their kids, gather at Pleasant Hill Church to sort and prepare bags of food that will be distributed the following Saturday. There are also opportunities to distribute food on Saturdays. If you are interested in assisting with the food pantry, please contact Shari Naman (namanshari@aol.com).
The Zaban Paradies Center is a couples shelter that provides two meals daily for 22 homeless couples in Atlanta. Each couple is provided a private bedroom, linens and laundry supplies. As their “payment” for their stay, couples are assigned chores at the shelter on a rotating basis. Additionally, residents are linked with social service providers to help them break the cycle of homelessness. Temple Kehillat Chaim sponsors one meal per month at the Zaban Paradies Center, which our members create and deliver to the shelter (service for 30-40 people). We are looking for individuals or teams of people to get involved to provide these meals on TKC’s assigned days. If you are interested in assisting with providing meals, please contact Shari Naman (namanshari@aol.com).
In addition to these opportunities outside the temple, we are looking to revive our Caring Committee, which has not operated for a number of years. Historically, this group is responsible for providing assistance to TKC members in need. If you are interested in helping reform this committee please contact Amy Deich (admin@ kehillatchaim.org). Last but not least, on May 7th the Brotherhood is having a Day of Service at the temple to repair and beautify our property and facility. Please contact Dan Eifert (daneifert1968@yahoo.com) for more information.
Our temple is a wonderful place of worship and teaching, but there is more to it than that. It provides numerous opportunities for you and your family to volunteer within both the membership and the greater community to help enhance the lives of others. Please join us as we help better the lives of our fellow congregants and members of our community.
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