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The congregation collects food for the Lincoln Food Bank throughout the year
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Eternal God, we face the morrow with hope made stronger by the vision of Your deliverance, a world where poverty and war are banished, where injustice and hate are gone.
Teach us more and more to respond to the pain of others, to heed Your call for justice, that we may bring nearer the day when all the world shall be one.
-The Aleinu
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The Social Action Committee is open to all members and friends of the congregation who want to pursue Tikkun Olam, the healing of the world. We bring our Jewish values and ideals of compassion and justice into our daily lives through social action.
Our focus is on poverty and the needs of children. We organize projects and educational programs to address these concerns. In the last year we sponsored the following projects:
- High Holiday food drive to benefit the Lincoln Food Bank and MAZON
- Diaper Drive
- Volunteering and collecting food for two local elementary schools that each have high percentages of low income students
- Hanukkah HeadStart book drive
- Children's Advocacy Shabbat service
Justice, justice shall you pursue.
-Deuteronomy 16:18
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Please help the Social Action Committee help those in need. During August we are again collecting items that will be helpful to the children of women at the York Correctional Facility and the students at Saratoga Elementary School. Space will be designated on the stage in the Social Hall for your donated items. Watch for those wonderful Back-to-School specials and stock up for others while you’re restocking your own supplies!
Back-to-School needs are: Elmer’s glue, glue sticks, Scotch tape, erasers, #2 pencils, 5" x 8" pencil boxes, 8.5” x 11” spiral notebooks, 4" x 6" spiral notebooks, lined notebook paper, colored markers, Crayons – 24 count, Jumbo Crayons – 8 count, colored pencils, mittens & hats, sweatpants & sweatshirts, backpacks, kleenex, and small hand sanitizers. Also needed are lice shampoo (so that the school can provide them to families who need it and can’t otherwise afford it) and alarm clocks (to help some of the students get up and get to school on time).
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Saratoga Elementary School realizes a few hundred dollars every year from those "boxtops for education" coupons found on General Mills cereals and elsewhere. Drop them off at the school or contact Stephanie Dohner if you have any questions. Thank you on behalf of the students and teachers at Saratoga School.
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The following links will open a new browser window.
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A Jewish Response to Hunger
This website focuses on poverty, and contains a legislative database which is a comprehensive tool that tracks details of legislative bills, including hearing dates, bill status and description, the sponsoring legislator, and the final outcome of relevant bills. Websites linking to related topics are available so that very current information on bills and issues will be at hand. Sample letters to senators are available for constituents to take quick action when a response is needed.
The Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism assists congregations in establishing social action committees that will help them to apply ethical Judaic principles to contemporary issues.
The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) has been the hub of Jewish social justice and legislative activity in the nation's capital for over 40 years. It has educated and mobilized the American Jewish community on legislative and social concerns as an advocate in the Congress of the United States on issues ranging from Israel and Soviet Jewry to economic justice and civil rights, to international peace and religious liberty.
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