Advocacy 101 Training – June 2nd

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  If you were not able to attend Advocacy 101 Training at Temple Beth Am in March – here is another opportunity.  Nancy Amidei is a wonderful teacher!

The Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH) and Faithful Action in Transforming Homelessness (FAITH)  present the next:Homelessness Advocacy 101 workshop!

Each spring, as Congress considers important bills and budget proposals, we organize to strengthen the federal government’s commitment to a safe, housed, and healthy United States. In order to house people and prevent and end homelessness, we need MUCH more affordable housing, strong supportive services, and fair and helpful laws. At this workshop, we will discuss the bills and policies being reviewed currently at the federal level and practice the steps that everyone can take to make sure housing and homelessness concerns are prioritized in the national Capitol. 

In just two hours, we take you through “Advocacy 101,” a FUN training with the incomparable pro-democracy cheerleader Nancy Amidei. Together with other local experts and allies, we present the facts about 3-4 important proposals, along with simple actions and sample messages. You will leave informed and inspired with tools for engaging your classmates, fellow congregants, neighbors and others to speak up and make a difference.

Join us Saturday, June 2 from 10am to Noon at the Keystone United Church of Christ.

Please register for this FUN and FREE workshop here at http://homelessinfo.org

 

 

Audra

Membership and Fundraising Coordinator

Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness

77 S. Washington St.

Seattle WA 98104

(206) 357-3144

audra@homelessinfo.org

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Mary’s Place Returns to Temple Beth Am: July 17-31

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Mary’s Place Families Return to Temple Beth Am: July 17-31.

Submitted by Sis Polin

As you are making your plans for your family’s summer, think about arranging some time to help the families from Mary’s Place. In response to the huge need for emergency shelter for families in Seattle, TBA is part of an interfaith network of congregations coordinated by Mary’s Place, hosting families overnight on a rotating basis. We are calling on our volunteers to provide dinners, drive the van back and forth to Mary’s Place and spend evenings and/or nights making sure everyone is comfortable and well cared for.
Sign Up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DA8A728A02-tbafamily1
Orientation Meeting: June 14, 7-8:30. (Mandatory for new volunteers)

Questions? Contact Tamara Bailey: tamara@weinbail.com or
Sheila and Paul Kasprzyk: pish2@comcast.net

Mary’s Place Coordinating Committee:

What does the Torah really say about homosexual acts?

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We’ve all heard it too many times, with varying degrees of sincerity and textual analysis: homosexual acts are an abomination; the Bible says so. Period. End of discussion.

Fortunately, Judaism thrives on discussion. In furtherance of that, I wanted to share with everyone the d’var that was presented by a bat mitzvah on our very own bima at Temple Beth Am just a couple weeks ago:

My particular Torah portion, Achre Mot – Kedoshim, includes a multitude of rules that many people follow to the letter, word for word. Many people, scholars and lay people alike, have asked, “Should every rule of the Torah be followed to the letter?” My question is this: “Are we really reading them carefully enough? Or are we just depending upon one narrow interpretation about what they mean?” Continue reading →

Intersection: Child Welfare & Housing Systems

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Intersection: Child Welfare & Housing Systems.

“You can’t get your kids back  until you have housing, and you can’t get housing until you get your kids back.”  

Seattle University’s Lisa Gustaveson’s recent blog post on how the lack of affordable  and safe housing in Washington is a major cause of the disintegration of families.

 

Tikkun Olam in Action – Temple Beth Am Mitzvah Day 2012

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On Sunday, May 6th, 400+ Temple Beth Am Religious School students, 50+ parents and 30+ teachers could be found hard at work on multiple mitzvah projects to serve our community. The positive energy in the classrooms was palpable and smiles were everywhere. This year, nine different grade levels from PreKindergarten (our 4 year olds) all the way up to our 7th graders learned about the many critical needs throughout our community.  Each grade level found a special way to impact those in need.

Some of the highlights of the day were: 

-         PreK children helped to make catnip toys for newly adopted kitty cats at the Seattle Animal Shelter.
-         Kindergarteners created colorful collages of happy faces which were then turned into laminated placemats for residents of Providence Elderplace.
-         Our joyful, energetic 1st grade students visited Ida Culver House and entertained the residents with songs, storybook reading, and colorful drawings.
-         The staff at Treehouse, http://www.treehouseforkids.org/ an organization that serves the needs of foster children, requested kid-created stationary.  Our 2nd graders did a fabulous job producing the requested stationary.
-         Our industrious 3rd grade students prepared a meal for homeless teens.  An excellent speaker from Teenfeed  www.teenfeed.org  helped the students understand the causes of teen homelessness.
-         Mary’s Place, http://marysplaceseattle.org/ a community center serving homeless women and their children, was the recipient of more than 100 personal hygiene kits. These kits were lovingly assembled by our 4th graders and an encouraging note was added to each kit.
-         The 5th grade students tackled the problem of hungry families. Our students converted bulk dry goods (rice, beans, sugar and rolled oats) into family-sized portions.  They also provided useful recipes for the food.
-         The Downtown Emergency Services Center http://www.desc.org/needed artwork to make apartments seem more welcoming and home-like for residents moving away from homelessness.  Our 6th graders eagerly shared their creative skills making the needed wall hangings.
-         The 7th grade students and parents tackled environmental restoration work at the Beaver Pond Natural Area under the supervision of EarthCorps http://earthcorps.org/. It was a great day to be outside repairing the world.

We would like to express a huge thank you to all who participated, all of the TBA rabbis and administrators who supported our efforts, the custodial staff who took care of many needed room modifications, and congregants who gave time and donations.  

Sandy Cobel and Peter Gruenbaum, 2012 Mitzvah Day Co-Chairs

If Obama Will Put His Neck Out, Why Won’t You?

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Today, after many years of tip-toeing around the issue, President Obama finally endorsed marriage for same-sex couples, encouraged, perhaps, by his vice president and secretary of education’s bolder steps in that direction earlier this week, but more likely because he believes that supporting gay marriage is not only the right thing to do, but also smart politics, according to The Atlantic editor Steve Clemons.

So if he can do it, why can’t you?

Washingtonians will soon need to commit themselves one way or another, as opponents are moving to overturn the same-sex marriage law that was enacted by the state legislature earlier this year.  They are collecting signatures to put two separate measures on the ballot this fall that would effectively negate the law. We’ll know if they have enough signatures by early summer.

In the interim, the coalition supporting same-sex marriage in Washington state, which includes the active support of 23 synagogues and Jewish institutions, is asking supporters of the marriage law to match name-for-name the number of signatures opponents need to qualify those measures for the ballot.   We hope to gather at least 2,000 signatures from the Jewish community.

So please sign the cards, which are in a basket in the Temple foyer.  If you signed the previous petition in February, you may sign again.  Alternatively, you can sign an online petition, here.

So when you’re thinking your position on this issue, consider the impact of Obama’s simple action, as described so eloquently by New York Times columnist Frank Bruni:

“I find myself thinking about all the teenagers and young adults out there who cower in silence because they worry about being ostracized if they speak the truth about their sexual orientation. I think about the ones who are bullied, even the ones who contemplate taking their own lives.

And I think about what it will mean to them to hear the president say what he did today, not because they’re focused on marriage but because they’re buoyed by any and every reassurance that there’s nothing wrong with them, nothing inferior about them. Today their president gave them that reassurance.”

Our 4th Graders Need Help for Mitzvah Day!

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Help Make Mitzvah Day a Success

We need help from the congregation. Could TBA members please go through their bathroom cupboards to find and donate:

  • mini-size toothpaste tubes (new)
  • toothbrushes (new)
  • new dental floss (new)
  • combs (new)
  • mini-sized shampoo bottles (hotel size)
  • mini-sized conditioner bottles (hotel size)
  • mini-sized body lotions (hotel size)
  • mini-sized mouthwash (hotel size)
  • washcloths (gently used – one that you no longer use because it doesn’t match or is a little worn out)

A few phone calls to our family dentists will result in donations of toothbrushes, dental floss and mini-sized toothpastes. Are there any Beth Am members who are dentists? Also, people often come home from a dental hygiene appointment with a new toothbrush, etc. , but they use a Sonicare at home, so the new one just goes into the cupboard.

Many families bring home mini-sized toiletries from their hotel stays (shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash and hand cream). Perhaps, there is a Beth Am member who owns a hotel? Also, women who sell MaryKay, Arbonne or Avon often have samples they are willing to donate. Know anyone in that line of business?

Most families have a wash cloth or two that they no longer use because it doesn’t match or is a little worn out. That would be perfect, because none of the ones we want need to match.

If you have any of these items that you would like to donate to Mitzvah Day, please contact:

Kate Gebler kdngebler@comcast.net or Terri Buysse motheringvoice@yahoo.com

Or items can be dropped off in the Religious School Office in a bag marked “4th Grade Mitzvah Day Project”

Many thanks your support of Mitzvah Day!