Taking her mother’s cue, welcome kit in hand, Tracy Stettner is helping to welcome families with newborns into the Jewish community.
Stettner and her mother, Kathy Williams, are the co-chairs of Chai Baby, an outreach program of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
Williams has always been involved in the Jewish community. Stettner calls her mother a “professional volunteer,” and says “I always admired the work she did and want my children to look up to me in the same way.”
Instilled with a strong desire to “give back” to the community, Stettner, who has a 2-year-old son, found her niche with Chai Baby. The project is a perfect fit for Stettner, who was a child psychology major and runs Baby Boot Camp, a fitness program for new mothers.
Chai Baby — coordinated through Jewish Information and Referral and directed by Gail Green — is an effort to bring Jewish tradition to families with new or recently adopted babies.
The program’s volunteers have been personally delivering “welcome kits” since January 2006. They contain coupons, gifts and practical information for raising a Jewish baby.
The program extends to any family in the region with at least one Jewish parent. “It is a toolbox for creating a Jewish household,” Stettner said.
Included in the kits are a resource guide, articles on Jewish parenting, discount coupons donated by Jewish programs and Judaica shops, Shabbat candles and blessings, Chai Baby gear, as well as videos and pamphlets on child development provided by California’s First 5 program.
The personal contact also gives the volunteers an opportunity to tell parents about the resources, activities and networks available to them in the Jewish community.
“We want to make everyone — including young, LGBT and interfaith couples or recent transplants — feel welcome in the community so they’ll feel comfortable going to their local JCC or temple,” Stettner said.
Members of the 40-plus volunteer team attend a brief training session — including a mock delivery — before being sent out to greet new parents.
Chai Baby has a compiled a roster of over 260 names, thanks to a mailing campaign, advertisement and word of mouth — surpassing their goal of 200. A number of baskets have been delivered so far, with 60 to 100 deliveries currently scheduled.
Volunteer Judy Musante described her first kit delivery as a heartwarming experience. “When I arrived she was tearful, saying this was the first time she had been approached by the Jewish community,” Musante said. “We went through the Chai Baby box almost like it was a party.”
On another visit, Musante says the couple had no knowledge or connection to anything Jewish in the community and was thrilled to get the resource guide, JCC info and other materials.
This is just Chai Baby’s first step in creating a social network and community for Jewish parents. “We want to build the community and keep people connected,” Green said. “The birth or adoption of a baby is such a pivotal time in a young couple’s life and a wonderful time to become involved with the Jewish community.”
The Chai Baby volunteers have all been trained, allowing the organizers to plan for the future. Stettner says they are discussing plans for a possible social group.
Chai Baby is also cultivating a relationship with the Jewish chaplaincy at Stanford Medical Center, and is considering delivering boxes to the 400-plus Jewish babies that are born there every year.
Gail Green says the visits are accomplishing exactly what they hoped — “a very warm welcome to families with new babies from the Jewish community.”
Funding for Chai Baby is provided by grants from the Alexander M. and June L. Maisin Foundation and the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.
More information can be found at www.chaibaby.org or by emailing [email protected].