JCC distributes holiday food to families facing insecurity

With the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur around the corner, families facing food insecurity may not have access to traditional holiday meals.

The Cedarhurst based Marion & Aaron Gural JCC’s the S.H.O.P. — sustenance hope opportunities place — had their annual High Holiday distribution on Sept. 30 from 2 to 5:30 p.m. to help those in need. 

They handed out bags of food for over 400 families, with challah, eggs, egg noodles, honey, kasha and other non-perishables, along with two bags of fresh produce, a chicken and frozen gefilte fish.

More than 20 volunteers helped put the bags together, collect the donations and sort all the items, over the last few weeks.

Food donations came from Young Israel of Woodmere, Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, the JCC pre-school, Temple Beth Shalom, Hebrew Academy of Long Beach and community members.

Met Council, another contributor, based in the city, is the largest Jewish charity fighting poverty, Shelby Brown, senior director of volunteer services and donor relations for the organization said. The group owns and operates the largest kosher food network in the world, Brown said. 

“It’s very important for us to be able to give back to families and make sure that they’re able to celebrate holidays the way that we celebrate, with dignity,” said Rivkah Halpern, program director and social worker at the S.H.O.P.

There will be a small distribution for Yom Kippur, and the S.H.O.P will be open in-between holidays for families to come and get what they need.

“It’s amazing to watch the team come together and to serve the community and the clients are so grateful for what we’re able to provide them,” Halpern said. “It really makes us happy to be able to help people celebrate the holidays with their families and loved ones.”

Tamar Davies, a social work intern for the JCC helped bring the bags of food to cars, and organize the distributions.

“I think it’s such an incredibly special thing that the JCC does and I think it’s something that I wouldn’t want to miss and not be apart of,” Davies said. “Seeing the people come and they’re so appreciative and grateful is a beautiful thing.”

For Met Council, this was one of 143 food distributions before Rosh Hashanah, with the help of 633 volunteers. The organization reached over 180 thousand people with key holiday staples, Brown said.

“It’s really our privilege to be able to bring joy and basic necessities to those in need in the greater Five Towns,” said Stacey Feldman, executive director of the JCC. “We have been providing not only monthly food packages but holiday packages too for 20 years now.”

To get involved or to learn more contact Rivkah Halpern at (516) 234-6020 or rivkah.halpern@guraljcc.org.