“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.“
Martin Luther King, Jr.
On this MLK, Jr. Day, more than 80 Yachad volunteers will put Dr. King’s statement into action. These volunteers will take the first step in putting faith back in people’s dreams that their homes and community spaces can be made beautiful again.
The projects that the volunteers will be working on range from single family homes owned by low-income, elderly Washingtonians, day shelters for the homeless, community spaces for HIV/AIDS counseling, and clothes and food pantries.
Work will range from plumbing repairs, laying floor, painting walls, repairing porches, fixing electrical, and installing grab bars. What is not completed this weekend by volunteers will be continued by Yachad’s ongoing construction efforts. Yachad is committed to not only providing excellent volunteer opportunities, but also a cohesive plan for each project’s completion.
This work is immeasurably meaningful for all people involved. Not only for the recipients, most of whom will be working side-by-side with the volunteers to do the work, but for the volunteers as well. Yachad’s mission of building bridges of understanding by building communities will truly shine this MLK, Jr. Day.
Homeowner to be assisted this weekend.
Volunteers working on a Yachad project.
These projects are supported by people like you. Please donate today.
As you may remember from past posts, we have been working with the wonderful congregation at Rising Sun Baptist Church. We have sent quite a few volunteer groups to repair their parish house over the last year and this video, produced by the Pastor’s son, really shows what great work they will be doing in the space once we are done helping them renovate it.
Leadership of Greater Washington will be heading back over to the space on MLK Day and we are thrilled to have them!
Leadership Greater Washington will be working to repair this house on MLK Day. The house belongs to Rising Sun Baptist Church of the Woodbridge Community in DC. The house will be used as a space to run the church’s various ministries including a food pantry, clothes drive, HIV/AIDS testing, and a meeting space for children of parents who are incarcerated. Yachad and Rising Sun have partnered on this project for the last year.
If you are part of Leadership Greater Washington, please sign up for the project here.
On Sunday, March 25th, Zoe and her family and friends will be participating in Yachad’s Mitzvah Party program by helping to renovate Rachael’s Women’s Center in downtown Washington, DC, just a short ways away from Zoe’s home.
The center serves as a day shelter for homeless women and men. The center serves two hot meals a day, offers community outings, showers and laundry services, counseling, and a safe place. Zoe and her friends and family will be helping to renovate the space by painting, doing small carpentry, and handyman tasks, all supervised by one of Yachad’s Construction Managers. This work is desperately needed to make sure the center stays safe and open for homeless people throughout the city.
Not only is Zoe rolling up her sleeves to complete this work, she is also sponsoring the project. Zoe is hoping to raise the funds that will pay for the materials and professional labor needed for this project. Every dollar you donate will be matched by Zoe’s family until they reach the $2000 goal!
VOLUNTEER
If you are interested in also volunteering, please contact Lisa to be included on the list.
In Zoe’s Words…
Some people think that the focus of Bat Mitzvah preparation is studying the Torah and learning prayer. Yes, learning about prayer and the Torah is very important; however, since the Bnai Mitzvah is about growing up and becoming an adult in the Jewish Community, it is about more then that. Also central in becoming a Bat Mitzvah is the commitment to “Gemilut Hasadim,” acts of loving kindness; efforts to repair the world. It is important to me that when I celebrate in March with my family and friends, that I also remember all those in our country who are not as fortunate and who need people to be an advocates for change. In this spirit, my family decided to include Gemilut Hasadim into my Bat Mitzvah weekend. We plan to celebrate my honor of being called to the Torah on Saturday, but then on Sunday, my family, friends and I plan to roll up our sleeves and join as a community to help those in need. I am excited to join with my family and friends to help re-build and improve the Rachael’s Women Center.
I recently visited the Rachael’s Women Center. We spent an hour touring the property. When I left the shelter for the first time, my parents asked me what I thought. I replied that I thought it was sad. The building was in such disrepair: the walls were cracked, the paint was peeling, the floorboards were falling apart, but, most of all, the women were alone and homeless. My parents encouraged me to look at the situation in another way: if this women’s shelter was not here, all of these women would be on the streets in the cold. My parents helped me realize the significant importance of this shelter. It emphasized to me just how important it was to help fix it up. That afternoon, I realized that this shelter helped save so many people — the least I could do was help organize the effort to improve the safety, cleanliness and beauty of the building.
In our tour of Rachael’s Womens Center, in addition to the things that needed serious improvement, we also saw so much true beauty: A mural, gorgeous wood working, elaborate crown molding and most importantly, the dedicated staff of the center. This place was not a sad place. It was a happy place that just needed a bit of “loving kindness” to help nurture and foster its inner beauty. I can’t wait to work side by side with my family, my friends and the women who depend on the women’s center to make it a beautiful, comfortable place. I am eager to spread the rewards of hard work and activism among those who I love the most. I know that it feels great to help others, and I truly hope to inspire my friends and family to take the act of loving kindness back to their own communities.
My Torah portion is called Vayikra. Vayikra is about Animal Sacrifice. In the Torah, people sacrificed something really precious, animals, to prove their commitment to G-d. Nowadays people don’t kill animals and give them to G-d, but we can still show our love and appreciate for G-d’s gifts. Something that I believe we find precious is time. Between school, sports, homework and other events, there are only a few free hours on the weekends. I think that by sharing my precious free time to help the Rachael’s Women Center, I am following my ancestors who sacrificed in order to prove their dedication to G-d.
I am really looking forward to working with all of my family and friends and getting to help the women who depend on the Rachael’s Women’s Center. I want to show these women that they are not alone and that their community can rally around and help them. I look forward to seeing them smile when they see the work we have done. I sincerely hope it can brighten up their day. I also truly hope that my friends and family will see the importance of tikkun olam and want to continue to help people.
Watch these videos documenting Zoe’s first visit to the center.
You may have noticed some updates on our website thanks to our fabulous webmaster, Sergey at Stereojam.
When you are peaking around the updates, don’t overlook our freshly added page, Testimonials from Homeowners and Partners. There you can read touching letters of support from some of our recipients. It will make you smile and may even influence you to support our work.
Yachad had 22 volunteers join together to repair the headquarters of Strive DC (a nonprofit for employment training and career development for the unemployed). As one volunteer wrote,
“The experience and turnout was exceptional. The people were terrific and I can’t wait for the next project.”
Yachad offers a volunteer day for all individuals on federal holidays. The project was funded in part by Adas Israel and the PCUCC, as the two congregations joined forces for the third year in a row, to sponsor a Yachad project on Veterans Day.
A special thanks to Joel Fischman, Laura Epstein and Lynda Mack, who were the wonderful organizers from Adas Israel and PCUCC.
Also, a special thanks to the sorority sisters from Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority and the students of Lutheran College Washington Semester, and of course, Chris Hart-Wright of Strive DC.
NIF, Ameinu and Yachad
Invite you to a presentation on Israel’s social justice protests:
Dror Israel:
The Struggle for Social Justice and the
New Model of Kibbutz
Featuring a photo exhibit of the tent protests
Dror Israel visit courtesy of Ameinu
Photo exhibit of Social Justice Tent Protests courtesy of NIF
Thursday November 10
7:00-8:30pm
Religious Action Center
2027 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC
Light refreshments and coffee served
Dror Israel is one of the leading organizations in the tents movement, consisting of about 1,200 young Israelis ages 23-37, who chose to create a new Chalutzic (pioneering) lifestyle – The Educators Kibbutzim.
Gilad Perry is a founding member of Dror Israel’s Kibbutz Eshbal, one of the first Educators Kibbutzim, and the Eshbal Boarding School for underprivileged youth from the Ethiopian community, where he still teaches music. He now serves as the overseas coordinator of Dror Israel.
Sivan Bamberger made Aliyah from Northern Virginia in 2000. She joined Dror Israel’s Educators Kibbutz in Hadera where she coordinates a year abroad program for Jewish 18 year olds from the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Holland. She also develops and runs educational programming for the continued training of young educators.
This event is free but please RSVP to Sarah Lawson, slawson@nif.org
In case you missed it, this was this year’s video at the Community Builders Bash in honor of Nancy and Alan Bubes. Enjoy! The music is by Florence + The Machine.
This speech was given by one of Yachad’s homeowners at this year’s Community Builders Bash in honor of the wonderful Nancy and Alan Bubes. It was so touching we thought we would share it with everyone.
My name is Connie Mobley and I am a proud recipient of Yachad’s home repair assistance program. Back in June, Nancy and Alan worked to repair my home in SE Washington, through Yachad’s Mitzvah Party program. They brought their friends and family to help work side-by-side with me to repair my home. We rolled up our sleeves and went to work together. I can’t tell you how overwhelmed with happiness and love I felt at the end of the day. Not only did I have a house I was proud of again, my attitude about the world we live in had been changed by knowing that people do care. I have worked with many nonprofits in my life and I have never seen an organization work the way Yachad does-in such a personal manner. I truly felt that at the end of the day, these people that had come into my home in the morning as strangers, were now family. By getting our hands dirty and working together, we had all been transformed. I want to thank you all for supporting Yachad. I want to congratulate Nancy and Alan for being such wonderful people. Thank you all.
Welcome to Yachad’s blog. Here you will find stories and pictures from our programs as they happen. We also would like to use this page as a way for our volunteers and homeowners to post comments about their experiences with Yachad. Enjoy!
