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August 17, 2001/Av 28, 5761, Vol. 53, No.45
MAZON, Valley synagogues tag-team to combat hunger
JASON STONE
Special to Jewish News
Jewish Children's and Family Service in San Francisco, a recipient of MAZON funding, assists low-income people of all faiths and backgrounds, including this woman holding a piece of matzo.
Photo by Laura Stein
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When Lou and Lovey Borenstein moved to the Valley to create Chompie's restaurant, there was no doubt the eatery catered to the Jewish community.
But little did the couple from Rosedale, N.Y., know they would also be helping to fight world hunger in the process.
Thanks to the international Jewish famine relief program, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, restaurants like Chompie's - along with Jews all over the United States - are able to help feed hungry people of all races and religions worldwide.
MAZON, which means "food" in Hebrew, asks American Jews to donate to the hunger relief institution 3 percent of the total cost of all life-cycle celebrations such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, anniversaries and other joyous occasions.
The money is then distributed to legitimate relief organizations like food banks, homeless shelters and job training centers all across the world.
Paradise Valley's Temple Solel started a unique program four years ago by hosting its MAZON dinners at Chompie's and other restaurants in the Scottsdale area.
The restaurants donate 20 percent of the total sales from a designated night to the MAZON program, says Ceil Siegel, the social action chairwoman for Temple Solel.
"It's been very heartwarming," Siegel says. "We do very well with many restaurants. They want us back. We do it on a night when they normally don't have a lot of business. It works for them and it works for us."
The Scottsdale Chompie's hosts three or four of the events each year.
"It benefits the community," says co-owner Shirli Borenstein. "We try to contribute to a lot of charitable organizations. Our dinner business at the Scottsdale store is steady but any new customers we can bring in is a benefit. I try to say yes to everybody with charities."
Terry Kraus, a vice-chairperson of the MAZON board, was the director of Temple Solel when the idea was formed.
"I saw a similar idea for congregational dinners held at a restaurant to benefit a food-related program in the newsletter of Congregation Beth Israel in San Diego," Kraus says. "I worked with my lay people on the Social Action Committee of Temple Solel to adapt it to MAZON."
According to a MAZON newsletter, MAZON is patterned after the Jewish concept of tzedakah, which teaches that caring for the poor and providing them sustenance are not acts of charity, but of justice. Because families cannot easily invite the poor to their tables to share a meal, MAZON helps coordinate the relief effort through the funds it raises.
When the program was founded in 1985, Phoenix received the first taste. Irv Cramer, who was the first executive director of MAZON, visited Temple Chai to explain the program to the congregation.
"We were the first synagogue he visited," says Marlyne Freedman, executive director of Temple Chai. "I don't know why he came here first. They were just in the beginning of putting the program together."
World hunger was certainly at the forefront of charity at the program's beginning. At the time, international focus was on providing relief to African famine victims. Events such as the transcontinental concert "Live Aid" and the USA for Africa song, "We Are the World," helped draw attention to the cause.
But sensing a need in other areas, MAZON was founded to help others in the world, says Mary Krazn, director of development and communications for MAZON.
And with the fight for African hunger relief now out of the public eye, MAZON is going stronger than ever.
Here is the proof of MAZON's success, according to MAZON's newsletters:
- More than 800 synagogues throughout the United States have affirmed partnerships with MAZON.
- In its first year, the program gave $20,000 in cash grants to four hunger-relief organizations. That figure has grown to $3 million annually which is given to more than 200 organizations.
- More than $24 million has been raised (total) over the 15 years.
- More than five million pounds of food have been donated over the last four years.
The organization estimates that more than 31 million Americans, including 12 million children, suffer from hunger or live at the very edge of hunger.
In a newsletter, MAZON estimates that more than 45,000 Jews nationally have donated to the cause, which assists people as varied as African-American farmers struggling to keep their land in Georgia, elderly Jews in Chicago, and Arab and Jewish children in Israel who receive meals in an after-school enrichment program.
"This is the only national Jewish agency dedicated solely to hunger relief," Krazn says. "There have been campaigns that have been more short-lived. The response to hunger has been very enduring."
The program is not solely dedicated to raising money for food. It also helps teach job skills and work techniques to the less fortunate.
"MAZON does not just hand out food baskets. It will create a drainage system for your farm or teach you how to plant corn." says Rabbi B. Charles Herring of Temple Kol Ami.
MAZON allows local synagogues to provide twice-yearly grants to qualifying food relief centers. Temple Kol Ami was selected by MAZON to present a $50,000 grant to the West Side Food Bank two years ago.
"We do a multi-task program with MAZON," Herring says. "We encourage all of our members to contribute the 3 percent of social events with MAZON. And we run appeals both at Passover and the High Holidays."
Each Yom Kippur, Temple Kol Ami asks its congregation to donate an amount of money equal to the cost of a day's worth of food to MAZON, something the temple has been participating in since its founding in 1987, Herring says.
Temple Kol Ami's program of donating the cost of food for one day on Yom Kippur is based on MAZON'S "The Corners of Our Fields" program.
"We support MAZON thoroughly," says Siegel, adding that Temple Solel will host another dinner at the Scottsdale Chompie's Sept. 24, the Monday after Rosh Hashana.
Temple Chai, meanwhile, will once again ask its congregation to give its 3 percent donation over the holidays.
"We believe it's a really wonderful organization," says Freedman, whose temple donated 3 percent of the cost of last year's 25th anniversary celebration. "It's just one of the best organizations helping the hungry and feeding the homeless all over the world."
Jewish News is providing readers a chance to offer High Holiday greetings, published in the Sept. 14 High Holiday issue. To support MAZON, Jewish News will donate 3 percent of the cost of the greetings ads to combat hunger.
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