As a result, participating organizations and synagogues in this year’s effort are being asked to “not only make a time and work commitment, but a financial one as well.”
On Sunday, April 30, some 1,000 Jewish volunteers in San Francisco and the East Bay will roll up their sleeves, and take up paintbrushes, hammers and sandpaper for a community-aid effort. Jewish Family and Children’s Services is coordinating the third annual S.F.-based event, in conjunction with more than 15 Jewish agencies and synagogues. More than 700 volunteers are expected.
In addition, the Volunteer Action Center of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay is launching its own Sukkot in April effort for the first time, with five projects in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Three hundred volunteers have already signed up. The Volunteer Action Center also sought contributions to underwrite the effort. Eleven synagogues and four East Bay programs are participating.
Christmas in April would like its programs to be self-supporting, Sberlo said. In the past, they were underwritten by foundation grants.
“We need the Jewish community to step up to the plate on this,” Sberlo said. “We have families without heat, or with broken plumbing, or who don’t have a refrigerator. Some home repairs would cost $10,000 to $20,000 on the open market.”
While volunteers and funding are still needed for the San Francisco projects, the East Bay effort has all the volunteers it can use, according to Ilana Schatz, director of the Volunteer Action Center. East Bay participants have also raised the necessary funding from individuals and synagogues, as well as a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay.
“We’re very excited about the response and we’re hoping that this becomes the beginning of our community’s effort to make sure that safe and affordable housing is available in the East Bay,” Schatz said.
Working in partnership with the nationwide, nondenominational Christmas in April program, which takes place the day before, volunteers for Sukkot in April fan across the region to engage in refurbishment efforts. Projects include painting, renovating, repairing and doing safety upgrades in homes and nonprofit facilities that serve children, seniors, homeless, and people with HIV/AIDS and disabilities.
Locally, the effort was inspired by two projects, according to Rachel Kesselman, coordinator of volunteer programs for the S.F.-based JFCS. The Jewish community in Washington, D.C., was doing a Sukkot in April program. In addition, JFCS and Congregation Sherith Israel had been doing a similar volunteer effort, Project Lend a Hand, which involved refurbishing homes of low-income seniors who were JFCS clients.
When the program began in San Francisco three years ago, said Kesselman, “Our goal…was to have a day of renovation and partnering, bringing Jewish organizations and volunteers on this side of the bay together to create a second day of what was already in place through Christmas in April. We knew there were a lot of Jews interested, and we were interested, but we didn’t want to have it happen on Shabbat.
“Everyone has their own separate mitzvah day, but the big piece that’s really important is…to work as a Jewish community and to work in partnership with the general community,” she added.
Year 2000 San Francisco projects include beautification of Brooks Park in the Oceanview Merced Ingleside neighborhood. At this site, volunteers from Brandeis Hillel Day School will paint the asphalt, do gardening and perform general cleanup. Artist Peter Collins, who has painted community murals for several of Sukkot in April’s past sites, will create a mural.
The Henry Ohloff House on Fell Street at Steiner will also receive the ministrations of 65 to 70 volunteers. This residential drug recovery facility needs carpentry, gardening and extensive interior painting. Volunteers from the Episcopal Diocese of California and St. James Church will work along with members of Congregation Emanu-El.
San Francisco volunteers will also help out at the Derek Silva Community Program, a single-room-occupancy residence for low-income men and women with disabling HIV and AIDS who are at risk of homelessness.
“This facility has a wonderful art therapy program,” said Maureen Carew, executive director of the Christmas in April program. “They display their paintings and photographs in the lobby, which has been in terrible condition since the 1970s. We’ll be replacing furniture, removing the striped wallpaper and painting.”
This year’s East Bay program has expanded to bring in several groups. Projects include five homes in need of repair.
Working in conjunction with the Diablo Valley Christmas in April chapter, volunteers from Temple Isaiah in Lafayette and Congregation B’nai Tikvah in Walnut Creek will renovate a house in Concord, including fixing the roof and kitchen, painting and backyard maintenance.
Other East Bay projects include a home in Pleasanton and three homes in the Berkeley area. In addition to volunteers from synagogues, participants include high-schoolers in the East Bay Midrashot, Berkeley Hillel students, and members of the Women’s Division and Young Jewish Alliance of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.
In San Francisco, Eric Altman has volunteered with Sukkot in April in past years, serving as a construction captain with a team from the Young Adults Division of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation. This year, he will work on a home in the Outer Sunset, in conjunction with the Jewish Community Relations Council’s New Leaders Program and volunteers from Congregation Sherith Israel’s young adult group.
“In my volunteer work with this program,” he said, “I go back to my understanding of the Torah and other Jewish texts. While there are portions and commandments to help your fellow Jews, there are also portions to be a light unto the nations. There’s an energy and excitement in the Sukkot in April program that really has to be seen to be believed. It’s wonderful.”