Marin Jews with an overwhelming desire to paint rooms, teach English as a second language or hand out free turkeys should have more opportunities in the future to do just that.
A trio of Marin congregations — Tiburon’s Kol Shofar, the Jewish Congregation of San Geronimo Valley and San Rafael’s Rodef Sholom — were recently awarded grants from the Marin Community Foundation to help boost their volunteer programs. The foundation gave 14 grants between $2,000 and $5,000 to religious organizations representing all the major faiths.
Kol Shofar congregant Stephen Fierberg was compelled to write the grant request by a desire to see whole families participate in volunteer activities. Many times, he said, parents have asked if they could bring their young children along on Habitat for Humanity projects, but the inherent dangers of a construction zone forced a negative reply.
Now the Conservative shul has formed charitable partnerships with San Rafael’s Canal Ministry and Homeward Bound, and youngsters will not have to worry about ill-placed nails or piles of falling bricks.
The ministry serves the largely immigrant population of the city’s Canal district, and would provide Kol Shofar congregants the opportunity to befriend Canal families, help them in English-language instruction and encourage students to stay in school.
Homeward Bound operates a family emergency shelter for those who unexpectedly become homeless. Among other duties, congregants will help paint and furnish the rooms.
The $5,000 grant has allowed Kol Shofar to hire volunteer coordinator Donna Lieberman, who hopes to match families to a charitable project that suits their passions.
“Families can sort of own a project. Families who love gardening can find a gardening project,” said Lieberman, a longtime Jewish educator and a teacher in Kol Shofar’s religious school.
Lieberman has already set up a deal in which interested families can obtain paint free of charge from Colorfast, a Novato store, and help to decorate rooms at Homeward Bound’s shelter.
“They can try to make the room a warm place for people who are not in the best situation,” she said. “I hope families do this; it’d be a once-a-month type of thing.”
The Jewish Congregation of San Geronimo Valley also hopes to set up a “volunteer team,” and has strengthened ties with the San Geronimo Valley Cultural Center.
The cultural center runs a food bank and also facilitates other nonprofit or charitable activities.
“They can help work at the food bank, help to organize the food or even assemble stuff off of the truck,” said Laurie Chorna, the 10-year-old congregation’s administrator.
“There are other things, especially at holiday time. There’s a turkey giveaway and half a dozen people from the congregation are helping disperse them to needy families in the area.”
The lay-led congregation features roughly 60 paying member-families, with 100 to 150 additional people who show up for events.
Chorna hopes the $4,000 grant will allow her and others to spend more time scouring the membership for volunteers. By the end of the year, the congregation should also be sending volunteers to assist seniors and do office work for local environmental organizations, she said.
San Rafael’s Congregation Rodef Sholom received $2,500 to expand its October Mitzvah Day projects. This year, nearly 800 people participated in 40 projects.
The additional money allowed volunteers to decorate more teddy bears for the Marin Community Clinic, pack more bag lunches for homeless shelters, collect more books and kitchen items and throw more Halloween parties for local shelters. The Reform synagogue was also able to bring in a consultant to better plan the day’s events.
“We were able to take Mitzvah Day to a higher point,” said Moji Javid, Rodef Sholom’s program director.
“It was exciting for us not to have to worry about what we were spending on some projects.”