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Friday December 1, 2006

Shorts: Bay Area

Teens help seniors with emergency kits

A group of East Bay Jewish teens has teamed up with Jewish Family & Children’s Services of the East Bay to purchase and assemble emergency preparedness kits for East Bay seniors.

Project founder Hannah Holtzman heard about a similar program in San Francisco, and contacted JFCS/East Bay’s Center for Older Adult Services. With fellow high school student Lia Korn as her partner, Holtzman collected enough money to produce 65 kits. Ace Grand Lake Hardware in Piedmont provided materials at a discount, including flashlights, radios, water, emergency blankets and first aid kits.

JFCS/East Bay staff has identified a group of its most vulnerable clients to receive the kits just before Chanukah. Many of the recipients are also part of JFCS/East Bay’s Holiday Food Program, which delivers to them a hot kosher meal and a bag of groceries. On Dec. 14, teen volunteers will pick up kits and meals and deliver them to the 65 seniors.

Palo Alto preschool adds grown-up classes

T’enna preschool is not just for the under-5 set anymore. Parents are being encouraged to drop their kids off and stay at the Albert L. Schultz JCC to take part in some new educational and social programs.

Parents’ programs include “Tov Tov Tuesdays,” a parents club with rotating guest speakers; and “Hebrew Happy Hour,” an elementary Hebrew-language session on Wednesdays. The new programming is part of a greater effort to create a support unit for families and provide them with valuable resources.

The programming also extends to monthly events for the entire family, such as a “Hip and Happenin Hanukkah Hullaboo” on Dec. 10 and a “Havdallah Delight and Open House on Jan. 20.

Email dklein@paloaltojcc.org for more information.

Chochmat HaLev going organic

Berkeley Jewish Renewal congregation Chochmat HaLev has teamed up with local farms in an experiment in agricultural sustainability.

Tuv Ha’aretz Community-Supported Agriculture is a two-year-old program run by Hazon, a New York organization promoting Jewish environmentalism. As part of the program, Chochmat HaLev has committed to buying produce from local organic farmers and agreed to hold educational programs related to sustainable agriculture and Jewish environmental values.

The program allows members of participating institutions to sign up for weekly deliveries of produce, which they pick up at their synagogue or community center.

Applications open for Holocaust program

“Shalhevet” (“flame” in Hebrew), a Holocaust course for Bay Area 11th and 12th graders culminating in a trip to Israel and Poland, is accepting applications.

Following several months of courses, participants will visit the concentration camps with survivors, rabbis and educators.

Those interested in the program, a joint offering of the Bureau of Jewish Education and Holocaust Center of Northern California, can visit www.hcnc.org/education/shalhevet.html or contact Morgan Blum at mblum@hcnc.org.

2nd printing for S.F. photo book

A photographic history of Jews in San Francisco will soon be more readily available — because a second printing is scheduled just before the end of the month.

“Jewish San Francisco” by Rabbi Edward Zerin is still available at most local bookstores and online. It features dozens of black and white photographs that tell the story of how Jews influenced the Bay Area.

“Jewish San Francisco” is published by Arcadia Publishing. It is 128 pages, and costs $19.99.

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