What a great time we had doing a great mitzvah!

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Last Sunday, close to 30 of us gathered to bake cookies and assemble snack bags for kids who have been affected by gun violence in Philly. This is just one project offered by the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia. It is an extraordinary organization.

Thanks to ALLLLLL the people who organized, shopped, schlepped, packed, baked, or otherwise helped in person, through monetary donations for supplies or by baking at home and dropping off their wares. How wonderful!

It was a multi-generational crowd, and we hear that more than a few teens were happy to be standing on the assembly line with Hazzan Harold. Below you will see some of the comments we received. It was so good to be together.

So, as I start the thank yous, please forgive me if I have missed anyone. If you are not on the list, please know that we appreciate you and all the ways you contributed.

With gratitude to lead organizers, Janet Carroll and Corinne Hackman, we all thank:

Elisa Abeloff

Celia Brown

Jonah Brown

Janet Conn

Janet Carroll

Sandy Chakroun

Eden Charlson

Leah Charlson

Alison Fiekowsky

Adrianna Froio

Chiara Gelfand

Corinne Hackman

Susan Haiman

Rita Harris

Andrea Kahn-Kothmann

Lonnie Klein

Gaby Lipkin

Ami Litcofsky

Rachel Litcofsky

Esther Lowenthal

Julia Menschik

Harold Messinger

Tali Perlman

Jessica Press

Maggie Press

Tara Radin

Gari Weilbacher

Judy Wortman

Maya Zahavy

Nataliya Zelikovsky

Here are some nice thoughts that came our way:

Today was amazing. Everyone who touched this event, and there were so many, helped to build community. We all worked together, from organizing, planning, and shopping (starting with all of you) to today’s amazing day with so many people. Everyone wanted to pitch in and used their common sense and willing to do whatever it takes, to make it all happen. And so fast, too!

Each person took initiatives to make it all work – on top of all the camaraderie throughout.

It’s activities/events like this morning that are what really attracted me to BAI, and they’re what I’ve missed during the pandemic years. It was such a wonderful event! In addition to the benefit for the bag recipients, it’s a great community builder for us!