North Shore Synagogue continued its tradition of helping the community by cooking, packing and delivering almost 250 meals on Thanksgiving Day to the needy, fulfilling the Jewish mitzvah of feeding the hungry.
The preparation started weeks earlier, collecting food and monetary donations with the help of our Tikkun Olam (“Repairing the World”) committee. The Standard at North Shore, the synagogue’s premier in-house caterer, not only donated turkeys, but their staff cooked the turkeys in their facility so that they would be ready for Thanksgiving. Temple members donated turkeys and other food which are part of a traditional Thanksgiving meal. As a fundraiser each year North Shore Synagogue sell pies and breads for Thanksgiving and many congregants bought a mitzvah pie which was distributed with the thanksgiving meal. Other area companies helped too, including Stew Leonard’s of Farmingdale which donated turkeys and Celebrity Diner in Syosset that donated delicious chicken soup for every meal.
Starting early on Thanksgiving morning, nearly 100 congregant volunteers of all ages gathered to put it all together. The turkeys were carved, potatoes were peeled by hand, boiled, and mashed, and stuffing was cooked. The assembly line packaged the main meal along with soup, cranberry sauce, vegetables, gravy and dessert into containers for delivery to homes, soup kitchens, and shelters across Long Island. Everything came together and was organized for delivery by North Shore Synagogue members who volunteered their time to make the final distribution.
Planning and executing this event took a tremendous effort. Congregants Harvey Wiesenberg, Sondra Cardno and Patrice Grossman, along with Executive Director Jacquelynn Golub, spent weeks organizing the event, making sure that everything was set to go as the volunteers poured in on Thanksgiving morning. North Shore Synagogue is grateful for everyone who donated to and participated in this day of giving, both the congregants and the businesses who contributed food and time.
Besides providing a delicious and nutritious meal to dozens of families and individuals, parents were pleased to be able to show their children the importance of helping the less fortunate, and every participant left the day with the warm feeling that you get when helping others.
North Shore Synagogue is a Reform Jewish Congregation and member of the Union for Reform Judaism. For more information, go to www.northshoresynagogue.org and facebook.com/NorthShoreSynagogue.
-Submitted by Jim Garfinkel of North Shore Synagogue