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November 22, 2002/Kislev 17 5763, Vol. 55, No. 13
Bountiful baskets
Hanukkah project raises money for Israel
LEISAH NAMM
Managing Editor
Students from the middle school at Pardes Jewish Day School help fill 400 Hanukkah baskets with Israeli products. Pictured from left are Jessica Abrams, Jillian Nirenberg, Brittany Steinberg and David Campbell.
Photo courtesy of Pardes
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Who knew that chocolate coins, tea biscuits and strawberry preserves would provide medical supplies for an Israeli ambulance?
A recent project by Action in Support of Israel and American Red Magen David for Israel (ARMDI) helped do just that.
During the week of Nov. 11, volunteers filled 1,300 baskets with Israeli products such as candies, tea bags, onion soup mix and Hanukkah candles. "All products came from Israel, including the plastic bowl," says Jay Bycer, local ARMDI coordinator.
The Hanukkah baskets, which sold for $20 each, generated $9,100 to buy medical supplies for the Israeli ambulance purchased by ARMDI in May with a donation from William and Anna Koenig of Phoenix. The ambulance, which is being manufactured by Ford in California, will arrive in Arizona for a March 23 dedication ceremony at Temple Chai in Phoenix and then be shipped to Israel. "We bought products from Israel; now the money's going back to Israel," Bycer says.
From Nov. 12-15, volunteers from 16 synagogues and students from the middle school at Pardes Jewish Day School and the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School helped fill the baskets at Temple Chai.
"It was a big communitywide effort," Bycer says.
The students from Pardes' fifth, sixth and eighth grades who helped with the baskets were "so excited to be doing something they knew would be helping Israel," says Tobee Waxenberg, middle school director.
Filled baskets were then delivered to Valley synagogues for pick-up.
Zalman Segal, owner of Segal's Kosher Foods in Phoenix, placed orders for the food items at cost through his Israeli suppliers. Segal says more than 400 cases of food were shipped.
ARMDI is the fund-raising organization in the United States for Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's equivalent to a Red Cross Society, and the sole provider of emergency medical services in Israel. Action in Support of Israel is a local grassroots community effort to aid the Jewish state.
To help provide the ambulance with medical supplies, send donations to Arizona Friends of ARMDI, PMB 335, 10645 N. Tatum Blvd., Suite 200, Phoenix 85028
Call 602-787-2930.
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