yf
a Family are anonymous, but Lindsay
Leder, JFS director of volunteer services,
has experienced the reaction of the pro-
gram's recipients.
"Our clients are so appreciative and
grateful for the gifts that they receive
from our program' Leder said. "The
thank-you notes we receive are so
heartfelt and give us a glimpse of what
is going on in their lives and how we, as
a community, have helped to make the
holidays a bright one for them."
Wrote one recipient, "We sincerely
appreciated your gifts. Without them,
we would not have had any presents.
Your gift was a bright light, especially to
my sons, who also recently had giftless
birthdays. It is so encouraging when a
family is going through tough times to
receive a new piece of clothing or warm
slippers. It truly uplifts the spirits."
One mom wrote that when her chil-
dren saw their gifts, "you could see their
joy and happiness; they started to jump
and scream so loud. It is such a joy and
pleasure to see my kids happy. I think all
mothers would do anything at all to see
their kids as happy as my two girls were.
It's really the miracle of Chanukah I was
praying for."
Simple Ways To Help
Making a difference on Chanukah can
be as simple as mailing a donation to an
agency, like Yad Ezra, that will enhance
the holiday for Jewish families.
"We are giving out salamis, mustard,
pickles, chocolate Chanukah gelt, candles
and dreidels in addition to the regular
food packages that our clients receive':
said Lea Luger, Yad Ezra's development
director. "We also distributed addition-
c.
al household items in the month before
the holiday to enable our clients to use
their money to purchase other things
they need like medicine, gas and heat."
Nearly 200 varied suggestions for
making the world a better place are
offered by Liz Suneby and Diane
Heiman in The Mitzvah Project Book
Making Mitzvah Part of Your Bar/Bat
Mitzvah. . . and Your Life, (Jewish Lights
Publishing).
Many of them, said Heiman, can be
incorporated into the Chanukah celebra-
tion."We also created suggestions for
family mitzvah projects inspired by the
book, but that are specific to the holiday,'
she said.
Ideas include sharing Chanukah tra-
ditions with friends from different faiths
and cultures at a latke party or making
a clothing donation with each family
member choosing three items to donate
to a collection bin or thrift shop. On the
global level, they propose having the
family symbolically "adopt" an endan-
gered animal through World Wildlife
Fund or the National Wildlife Federation.
"If we have eight nights and give eight
gifts, in a few years we probably won't
remember what we got on the sixth
night," Heiman said. "But if we do some-
thing for someone else — something
that touches our heart — that's the gift
we will remember. And that's the mean-
ing of Chanukah."
And to 12-year-old Melissa Strome,
giving a gift to someone who might
otherwise not have one has that lasting
impact. "It feels like a mitzvah," she said,
"when you do something to help some-
one else out even though you don't have
to:'
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