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It is not good for a person to be alone - Genesis 2:18

Rabbi Hillel taught: Do not separate yourself from the community - Avot 2.4

Thus, our tradition teaches the vital importance of connecting and being connected, with our community and with each other. Caring Connection is the expression of those values, and the means to participate in a gratifying and joyous manner in our Temple Sinai community, so that none of us should be alone or feel alone.

Much of what Caring Connection volunteers do is provide support to members of our congregation in times of illness and sadness and need, in the form of caring acts of service – visits to individuals in hospital or nursing homes, singing at Charles Morris, leading and attending Shiva minyans, supplying meals to mourning families, fulfilling transportation needs. The material, concrete assistance provided is sincerely appreciated by recipients. But, perhaps just as important, is the sense of connection which our volunteers experience through acts of loving kindness.

There are members of our congregation who live alone and there are even more of us, who, despite or perhaps because of overly scheduled social, business and family lives, suffer from feelings of isolation and lack of fulfillment. Caring Connection is seeking to expand our programming to reach out to seniors living alone, and to connect the generations of students, adults and senior adults in our version of the Story Corps – a project to collect and publish the stories of our Temple Sinai family. Moreover, we want to expand and reinvigorate our group of active volunteers – to introduce many more of our congregation to the warmth of personal relationships and the sense of belonging to our Temple Sinai community.

If you had originally signed up for Caring Connection through Rabbi Gibson’s High Holiday call, if you’ve been a less than active established volunteer and especially if you are potentially a new volunteer, watch for notice of volunteer orientation and training sessions over the summer. Time commitments are flexible and can be minimal, but the rewards are great.

Louise Malakoff
P.S. Don’t’ forget to use your medical emergency information door hanger.

Shiva/Mourner’s Team: Mimi Botkin, Captain.
Help us help congregants who have suffered a recent loss. We provide minyan support, food and comfort. We check in and make sure mourners know we care. Our small acts have a lot of meaning.

Visitation: Ronnie Zuhlke, Captain.
Get and give the comfort that comes from visiting our congregants who are in nursing and assisted living facilities or in the hospital. Go on your own schedule, and only where you are comfortable. We can do so much by giving as little as an hour or two a month, at a time that meets your schedule.

Caring Deliveries: Jane Siegel, Captain.
Celebrate births and touch those who have suffered a recent loss by delivering challahs, Shabbat candles and holiday packages. Our deliveries are of much more than bread, they are of love and caring.

Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers: Marty Oper, Captain.
Help the frail elderly maintain their independence by providing rides, visiting and helping with daily chores such as shopping and checkbook balancing.

Cooking and Baking: Linda Raden, Captain.
There may be nothing warmer or more comforting than the gift of food. We are freezing food for later delivery, so make an extra cake, kugel or main course (or anything else) and give it to us. We can use whatever you can provide, as often as you can provide it. We will use it wisely, and it will mean so much to those who receive it.

Transportation/In-home Needs: Marty Oper, Captain.
We give rides to Shabbat services or Temple meetings. We help congregants who unexpectedly find they cannot make an appointment or, due to an illness or hospitalization, need to get their children somewhere or need other help and have no one else to turn to.

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