Social Action Committee

In keeping with the Jewish tradition of Takkun Olam (תקון עולם) – that is “repairing the world”, Beth Chaim has formed a Social Action Committee with the goal of helping local charitable organizations or individual families. Our focus is a hands-on approach to encourage BCRC participants to engage with the community.  Some of the activities in our group’s first two years have been preparing lunches for the Safe Harbor homeless shelter in West Chester, organizing bingo events for veteran residents of the Coatesville VA campus, collecting accessories and other work-appropriate garments for ‘Wings for Success’ (a local organization that outfits low-income women for interviews and for the workplace), assisting a local family with practical help and mentoring, sponsoring a movie night with proceeds going to the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, ad hoc food collection for families in need, collecting craft items for pediatric oncology patients, and helping package and deliver food at the JRA.  We have been able to engage the Youth Group and older teenagers in some of these activities. Currently, the Committee is exploring possible outreach to organizations that assist the elderly, and to local churches to offer baby-sitting assistance at Christmas.

We are interested in your ideas about these and other activities, with an emphasis on the hands-on approach and on activities that will appeal to the congregation at large and to our youth.  Please feel free to join our future meetings to learn more and to help guide the future Social Action activities of our Committee.