by suzan berns
Kids helping kids
Brandon Bay, 10, of San Rafael, has collected and donated 50 large, soft stuffed animals to orphaned children in Israel. Since last February, when he founded the Bay Kids Toy Project, he’s collected a whopping 1,250 toys and donated them to the Marin Community Clinic (which serves uninsured sick and hospitalized kids, among others) and two other charities that help children in war-torn areas.
Brandon’s proud mom, Deborah Bay, writes that the project came about after she explained to him (when he asked) that it’s up to each individual to create meaning in his or her life. Brandon has won Cingular’s Community Hero Award and has been nominated for a Heart of Marin award.
He’s continuing the project and would love to receive donations of Beanie Babies to pass on to less-fortunate children. If you’ve got one to spare, write to him at Branbay@comcast.net.
More tikkun olam
For her bat mitzvah “mitzvah project,” Jordana Lilly, 12, of Cupertino and San Jose’s Temple Emanu-El, has organized “Picture Peace – Art for Darfur,” an art auction to raise money for refugee children there.
Jordana writes, “I chose this project because I could bring my passion for art into a cause to help those most in need right now. Combining my project with my Torah portion, which is about freedom, helps me to relate my studies to the present day.”
The auction, along with a bake sale, will take place Sunday, Jan. 21, at Temple Emanu-El in San Jose. A silent auction begins at 10 a.m. and a live auction at 12:30 p.m. You can get an advance look at the art at www.templesanjose.org/gallery/v/darfur. All proceeds go to Save the Children in Sudan Fund. Jordana hopes to raise $1,000. If you’d like to donate art or baked goods, you can contact her at art4darfur@sbcglobal.com.
Kosher Cantonese
Rhoda Agin of Berkeley reports that during her recent trip to China, she joined former Bay Area residents Judy and Eddy Epstein for a “fine kosher fleishig Cantonese” dinner in Hong Kong. It took place at the Jewish Community Center restaurant, one of four (!) kosher restaurants in Hong Kong. The Epsteins have lived there for about 10 years and are involved with a local Jewish day school. Besides the restaurant, the Hong Kong JCC property has a preschool, museum and the restored Ohel Leah Synagogue. And in Kowloon, within commute distance (via boat or tunnel, that is), there’s a Chabad, and one of the hotels holds a minyan each Shabbat.
Short shorts
Lee Battat writes that the 300 places for Congregation Rodef Sholom’s 50th anniversary Golden Gala are filling up quickly. It will take place on Saturday, Feb. 3 (not Feb. 7 as incorrectly noted in the last Faces). Contact the temple to make your reservations … Congregation Netivot Shalom members Blair Prentice and David Finn, designers and architects for the synagogue’s new building, accepted an award for the building from Berkeley Design Advocates last month … Chana Andler writes that Jewish Family and Children’s Services’ Dream House, which provides a safe haven for victims of family violence, received a “Making a Difference” award in November at the 2006 Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. The award is for groups that work to strengthen the commu
nity. Dream House was recognized by the San Francisco Interfaith Council as a “model of hope.”
This columnist can be reached at faces@jweekly.com.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California