“Thanks to all our core team leaders and issue action team members who participated in last week’s Delegate Assembly. [Rabbi Enid Lader and Laurie Levinson were there...] GCC unanimously ratified the action plans from our Criminal Justice and Health Care teams in an integrated campaign between now and the March 6 primary election. When GCC acts, we all act together! We will organize a County Prosecutor Candidate Accountability Action on Monday, Feb. 20 from 7-9 pm at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple (23737 Fairmount Blvd, Beachwood) at which the gathered GCC membership (current turnout commitments: 680) will ask the candidates to commit to improving the way the office handles crucial issues in the criminal justice system. GCC cannot and will not endorse candidates.”

Beth Israel – The West Temple is hoping to bring at least 10 people to this program on Feb. 20th. If you would like to attend — we can meet at temple at 6:15 p.m. and drive together. RSVP to Rabbi Enid (eclader@aol.com).

When GCC acts, we all act together!

By Lauren Pankiw

It was not the first time we had heard of Project Save nor was it the first time many of us had volunteered there, but nevertheless, the experience was unique: On Sunday October 2, the high school class of Beth Israel, The West Temple went to Project Save to help serve food to the homeless. I woke up at the crack of dawn and arrived at the Catholic Worker Storefront building in Cleveland at 7:30 am to rendezvous with the rest of my class. There, we waited with anticipation to help the founder and director, Carl Cook. Before that started, Carl roused us with his narrative of the plight of homelessness in Cleveland. We all huddled around Carl eagerly as he began speaking about the plight of the homeless. It was not a new story to me, but it was just as stirring all the same:

Folks don’t realize that there are many paths to homelessness in Cleveland. Of course, many of the men and women had succumbed to their pre-existing drug and alcohol problems and thus doomed themselves to end up on the streets. Many others had suffered a simple but devastating fate such as losing a job that tipped the scale in favor of misfortune. A select few had even willingly chosen a life on the streets, but these conditions are rare. I could tell that Carl was intimately familiar with all of these cases. He was a sincere and potent speaker, whose quiet air of confidence and purpose was tempered by an endearing humbleness that made everyone want to stand just a little closer to him. It didn’t occur to me that his likable personality had roots in a harrowing past—Carl himself was once homeless. He was raised in a privileged family, with successful parents who instilled the value of hard work in their children. However, despite these advantageous circumstances, Carl was sabotaged by his alcoholism, which first manifested before he had reached even the age of ten. But having overcome his own addiction, Carl decided to do something to help other people in his former same position and started Project Save.

Project Save has served over 10,000 families by serving breakfast on Sunday mornings.  All the food is dependent on private donations and fundraising events. The Center also helps people with other basic needs like getting them birth certificates so they can apply for jobs and other services.   I had never thought about these basic things because I had taken them for granted.  Luckily for the homeless of Cleveland, Carl Cook does not. In addition to running Project Save, he also founded an organization called the Metanoia Project which provides care and serves food to homeless people who are afraid to come to shelters for any variety of reasons.

The work of the Greater Cleveland congregations (GCC) has really just begun.  After hearing from many of you at our own Temple’s “House Meetings” held in February and March, the very exciting city-wide GCC Founding Assembly, with representatives from many congregations across the city, took place in June.  Small Action Groups then began to meet during June and July, and we are now looking to define each group’s vision and gather the important expertise that will be necessary to bring each vision to fruition.

The Action Groups include:  Education, Health Care, Criminal Justice, Housing and Sustainable Foods.  Our action plan is now to share this with you and to hear from you individually – to hear your personal/family/professional stories that can shed important light on these topics and help give GCC the ability to develop and implement successful strategies to make positive changes in Cleveland.

You might ask… Why are we still talking?  Why aren’t we doing?  And the response is:  The GCC organizers feel it is important not to rush too quickly into action and end up adopting strategies that don’t result in meaningful change.  So, the more we talk with each other, the more we share our experiences and expertise, the better prepared and knowledgeable we will be to craft successful strategies.  It truly is a process, and the more we talk to each other – the better our own community becomes as well.

Can we talk?  Please let me know which Action Group you would like to be part of – and I, or one of our congregational representatives, will be in touch with you.

Together, we can make a difference.

Kol tuv – All the best,
Rabbi Enid
HYPERLINK “mailto:eclader@aol.com“ eclader@aol.com
216-228-9735

]]> http://www.thewesttemple.com/archives/654/feed 0 http://www.thewesttemple.com/archives/608 http://www.thewesttemple.com/archives/608#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 03:13:19 +0000 Myrna Pendery http://www.thewesttemple.com/?p=608 Since late fall and this past winter, many of the members of our congregation have come together to express their concerns and visions for a better Cleveland.  We met.  We talked.  We found that you have wonderful ideas for congregational action and insightful suggestions for local concerns.  We then shared our conversations with the larger Cleveland community.

And now, on Monday evening, June 6th, at 7:30 p.m., at the Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland, the Founding Assembly of the Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC) will convene and share our issues with the leaders of Cleveland — and formally begin our work to help make Cleveland the best it can be.

Please let me know if you can attend – we’re hoping to bring a contingent of 18 from our congregation… We can meet at temple (at 6:15 p.m.) and drive together…

Along with our Social Action committee co-chairs, Barbara Feldmar and Laurie Levenson, I thank you for your past participation and look forward to bringing our Social Action agenda to life.

For more information contact Rabbi Lader (eclader@aol.com)

PEI is a program of the Federation’s Jewish Volunteer Network (JVN) to further our mission of tikkun olam (healing the world).  PEI provides training, an on-site coordinatior and a structured supplemental reading program and materials.  It also oversees efforts to recruit a corps of caring volunteers from all faiths to help build reading skills and one-to-one relationships with students.  The program functions during school hours as a supplementary program, apart from the school’s regular reading curriculum.  As a result of this program, hundreds of volunteers have come together to read, write, play learning games and build relationships.  We ask PEI tutors to commit at least one hour a week.

Become a PEI tutor and make a difference in a child’s life today!  Contact Jessie Bruder at jbruder@jcfcleve.org or 216-593-2869

We have a very exciting opportunity to become part of a larger community-organizing effort towards tzedek (social justice) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) here in the Cleveland metropolitan area as part of the Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC).  We are now at the stage where we open the conversation to you — and are beginning these opportunities with two “House Meetings”

One meeting will be held at the temple on Sunday morning, February 6^th from 10:00 to 11:15 a.m.; and the other one will be at Laurie Levinson’s house, 450 Glen Park Drive, Bay Village, at lunchtime for a potluck lunch and conversation onFriday, February 11^th from 12:30-2:30 p.m.

These opportunities for conversation will help us “collect” community issues that are important to you — we will then present them at the “Issues Convention” on March 31st.  We want to speak with as many people from our congregation as possible — truly, we want to get us speaking with each other.

RSVP to me with your attendance plans (by e-mail or by phone) — if these times are not convenient, please, please let me know what would work best for you — as we plan to schedule at least one other meeting between now and March 31st, and we would like to make it convenient for as many of you as possible to participate.   Rabbi Enid eclader@aol.com 216-228-9735

May we continue to go from strength to strength,
Rabbi Enid Lader