Page 12 - Jewish News_September-2020

12 September 2020 FEDERATION NEWS

Inch by Inch, Row by Row…Will PJ families

make a community garden grow?

By Andrea Eiffert, Teen and Family Program Coordinator

n these uncertain times, your lo- your children will learn valuable spoilage that results from lengthy Florida Rewilding Collective, and me,
cal PJ Library team is working skills, such as practical math, com- transit times. Sarasota’s PJ Library Professional, on
Ihard to create engaging program munication, responsibility and co- With the help of local gardening Thursday, September 10 at 8:00 p.m.
opportunities that connect families to operation, plus the importance of experts, amateur green thumbs and for an informal discussion and learn
each other and our Jewish community, community, stewardship and envi- YOU, let’s explore the possibility of more about what’s in store in terms
while taking into consideration social ronmental responsibility. creating a community garden, togeth- of commitment, work and program
distancing and Zoom fatigue. ‹ Share in the joys, friendships and er! This experience is meant to be for structure. Please help us decide if this
For families who are looking for a harvest created through a family you, about you and because of you, so project is a good fit for our PJ commu-
new project outside of their own four friendly, community effort! let us know if we’re on the right track. nity.
walls, with benefits as vast as the great ‹ Reduce stress and increase a sense We want to know if it is feasible and To register and receive the Zoom
outdoors, might participating in the of wellness and belonging through how we will work together asynchro- link to participate, go to jfedsrq.org/
creation of a community garden be a exposure to green space. nously until we can safely gather to- events. For more information or ques-
new adventure? ‹ Growing food locally can help re- gether again in person, and listen to all tions, please contact me at aeiffert@
What if the fruits of your labor duce the greenhouse gas emissions of your ideas. jfedsrq.org or 941.552.6308.
could yield this bounty? related to transportation of food Join Zachary Zildjian, a local re-
‹ Create an outdoor classroom and and help reduce waste due to food generative farming expert from The
Virtually better together… the next best thing

to being there

By Andrea Eiffert, Teen and Family Program Coordinator
he Shapiro Teen Engagement Through the Better Together ini- ing senior residents are permitted to This program is open to Jewish
Program (STEP) will partner tiative, teens will first receive training gather together in their multi-purpose high school students from Sarasota and
Twith Aviva - A Campus for Se- on topics such as leadership, responsi- room, teens will be able to lead virtual Manatee counties and there is no fee to
nior Life in mid-October to foster vir- bility, Jewish wisdom, participate. Program sessions
tual relationships between local Jewish Jewish health and well- will take place weekly from
teens and senior living residents. This ness. Then, with adult October 20 thru December 15,
partnership is inspired by a program guidance and support, and students must be available
called Better Together™. While pan- teens will create vid- during that time and commit
demic restrictions have been hard on us eos demonstrating various games and activities and programs utilizing Zoom. to the entire program (with the excep-
all, residents in senior living facilities activities which they will share with Over the course of a few months, STEP tion of Thanksgiving week). Students
have had the added hardship of being their “senior buddies” at Aviva. In turn, teens and Aviva seniors will connect who complete the program will receive
socially isolated from their loved ones the seniors will view the videos, par- through this interactive, yet remote, commensurate volunteer hours and a
for several months. The loneliness they ticipate in the game or activity, and re- partnership with the intent of bringing certificate of completion.
feel can be equally as tragic as the virus spond with cards, emails and, perhaps, each other joy and laughter, and pro- For more information or to partici-
itself. their own video creations. If participat- viding a meaningful intergenerational pate, contact me at aeiffert@jfedsrq.
experience for all.
org or 941.552.6308.

we are FED Lechlechallah – Challah
baking taken to a new level

By Sydney Harlow, Program Director, Gulf Coast Hillel
ulf Coast Hillel hosted a
worldwide, community chal-
doing a program for another Jewish or-
Educating Jewish Minds Glah baking event on July 23 for a few years and saw that Harper was
ganization about Shavuot through chal-
lah baking. I viewed the program and
with Instagram challah baker Vanessa
Harper, creator of the Lechlechallah knew immediately this was something
project. The event was presented in that Hillel International would love
partnership with Hillel International’s to bring to all our students! I reached
Hillel@Home series, whose goal is to out to the staff of Hillel@Home and
our Federation is dedicated to educating Jewish minds throughout the Sarasota- offer Hillel students from around the the rest is history. We worked together
YManatee area — from Holocaust and civil rights education to Israeli history and for about a month preparing to push
advocacy through our Heller CRC, to reaching young children and their parents through the event out onto various marketing
PJ Library, to an array of adult education offerings. platforms. I, along with one of my
students, actually facilitated the day
jfedsrq.org • 941.371.4546 of the event, as well as conducted the
Q&A. We had 61 viewers on Zoom
and even more watching on Facebook
Live!
Hillels from around the country
JOIN US and Canada not only co-sponsored

FOR OUR VIRTUAL the event, they participated as well:
Florida State University, Bradley Uni-
HIGH HOLIDAYS SERVICES! versity, Michigan State University, The
Ohio State University, Ohio Universi-
Vanessa Harper ty, Wake Forest University, Bingham-
Congregation for Humanistic Judaism invites you to our world diverse and interesting program- ton University, University of Virginia,
VIRTUAL HIGH HOLIDAYS SERVICES ming while they are away from cam- Princeton University, Maryville Uni-
versity, Calgary Hillel and all the col-
pus.
Harper is a rabbinical student out leges in North Carolina.
all of which are FREE and open to the public. of New York who interprets lessons of Hillel International has shared that

Call 941.929.7771 or email chjsarasota@hotmail.com the Torah and Jewish tradition through it would like to continue this kind of
programming, so we look forward to
challah. She creates fun, unique and
for the link to the service(s) of your choice. intricate challah designs that are rep- working with these and other schools
resentative of the Torah portion of the again soon.
Services are sponsored in part by The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee. week. In captions on her posts, she dis- For more information about Gulf
cusses various parts of the Torah por- Coast Hillel, contact me at sydney@
tion and connects it to today. gchillel.org. For information about
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 • 10:30 AM I have known about Lechlechallah Hillel International, visit hillel.org.

Virtual Rosh Hashanah Service

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 • 7:30 PM

Virtual Yom Kippur, Kol Nidre Service

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 • 3:00 PM

Virtual Yizkor and Neilah Memorial Service

Torah challah Hebrew letter Shin challah

Looking for something to do in your spare time? Visit jfedsrq.org/volunteers