Tonight, at their Sabbath services held at the Carden Academy in
Morgan Hill, South County’s Congregation Emeth will present a check
in the amount of $8,000 to St. Joseph’s Family Center.
Tonight, at their Sabbath services held at the Carden Academy in Morgan Hill, South County’s Congregation Emeth will present a check in the amount of $8,000 to St. Joseph’s Family Center. This donation, which will be made on behalf of a partner organization known as Mazon, will coincide with the local Jewish group’s annual “Mitzvah Day,” a kind of community service day.
Present on behalf of St. Joseph’s to receive the donation will be David Cox, its executive director. Cox has headed the local ecumenical social service agency (sponsored by eight Gilroy churches) for the past two years.
St. Joseph’s has served the poor in Gilroy and San Martin since 1962. Some 80 volunteers help meet the needs of about 50,000 individuals every year through a number of programs:
• The Lord’s Table serves free meals three evenings a week.
• Groceries, more than 60,000 pounds given last year, are distributed to needy families, and box lunches are distributed to transients.
• Rental assistance is provided to families in danger of being evicted from their homes because of delinquent rent.
Congregation Emeth, which marks its 26th year as an important part of the South County community this month, has a long tradition of doing good works locally. It also is a “partner congregation” for a nation-wide organization called “Mazon–a Jewish Response to Hunger.” Through the efforts of Emeth and its rabbi, Yitzhak Miller, the food program of St. Joseph’s Family Center was one of the projects funded this year by Mazon.
Mazon ( which means “food” or “sustenance” in Hebrew) was founded in 1985 to offer help and hope to hungry people of all faiths and backgrounds. It strives to serve as a “bridge between Jews who enjoy the blessings of abundance and the millions of children and adults who live in hunger each day.”
The Jewish traditions guiding Mazon are “tzedakah” (the justice sought for the poor) and “tikkun olam” (the Jewish obligation to repair the world). More than 800 synagogues throughout the United States have partnerships with Mazon.
These partners encourage members to help the hungry by donating 3 percent of the cost of life-cycle celebrations (like bar/bat mitzvahs) and events like Passover Seders and break-the-fast dinners for Yom Kippur, plus special contributions in honor of friends and family members.
Since its beginning, the nonprofit organization has granted more than $30 million to food banks, emergency food providers and advocacy groups which seek long-term solutions to the problem of hunger.
For more information contact Congregation Emeth (phone: 847-4111, Internet: www.emeth.net), St. Joseph’s Family Center (842-6662) or Mazon (www.mazon.org).
