|
|
November 5, 2004/Cheshvan 21 5765, Vol. 57, No. 10
Barness Center embraces giving
MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
Staff Writer
Temple Chai will dedicate the newly established Barness Family Center for Tzedakah and Social Justice on Nov. 14.
The center will be an umbrella organization for more than a dozen community service projects the synagogue currently sponsors, including soup-kitchen staffing, blood drives and various clothing, toy and food drives.
At the dedication ceremony, Chai will honor congregants Ron and Daron Barness. The synagogue created the center in the spring and dedicated it to the family in recognition of the couple's philanthropic work.
Danny Siegel, founder and chairman of the Ziv Tzedakah Fund, will speak at the event. The Ziv fund is a nonprofit organization with offices in New Jersey and Israel that collects and distributes funds to "little-known tzedakah projects," according to the group's Web site. He was invited to speak because he is the Jewish community's leading proponent of tzedakah (charitable giving) and social justice, said Rabbi Peter Levi of Temple Chai.
Each year the center will choose a theme - this year's is "Embracing our Elders" - for the congregation to focus on. This is in addition to the synagogue's many existing social action programs.
Six hevras, or groups, will combine efforts to promote these projects. The hevras are education; temple community; communication and market-ing; youth; public affairs and advocacy; and greater community. Temple mem-bership is not required for participation and the hevras will seek community support and collaboration with other local organizations.
"You don't need to look at the world around you to see that world religions are taking up issues of violence and divisiveness rather than a sense of love and community," Levi said. "Ethics has fallen secondary in the religious world where issues of individual piety and narcissistic spiritualism is reigning."
Ron and Daron Barness' community commitment is varied and extensive.
Ron is a board member of the Jewish Community Foun-dation, vice president and board member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, and chairman of the American Israel Public Affairs Com-mittee in Phoenix. Daron is vice president of the fed-eration's women's division. The couple is also active with Camp Charles Pearlstein in Prescott and monetarily supports both Jewish and secular local organizations.
Professionally, Ron is president of Retail Brokers Inc., a Valley-based com-mercial real estate company.
Last year, the couple made Temple Chai history when they pledged $500,000 toward the congregation's "Torah for Life ... Torah for Now" campaign to write a new Torah and build the congregation's endowment fund, which supports Torah learning opportunities, Levi said. Money is spent on pro-gramming, as opposed to salaries or building im-provements.
The Barness center reflects the personal commitment the couple has toward repairing the world.
Ron has taught religious school at the congregation for seven years and in the classroom shows his students the importance of tzedakah. He made a deal with his sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students, offering to match them dollar-for-dollar with money they give to tzedakah.
Each year, his students have raised roughly $1,500-$2,000 and then decided where to send the money. Camp Charles Pearlstein's scholarship fund, Make a Wish Foundation and the Jewish National Fund are among the beneficiaries.
Ron and Daron also teach their two children to give back to the community.
When their daughter Jordana, now 14, had her bat mitzvah in October 2003, she decided to forgo gifts and instead sent personal letters with the invitations, asking guests to make a donation of any amount to one of three charities.
The couple's son, Zachary, will become a bar mitzvah in December and has decided to follow his sister's lead.
The Barness Center includes a youth endowment board, where eighth-, ninth- and 10th-grade students will work together to solicit grant requests from different Valley-based agencies and groups. The board will then meet to decide how to distribute the funds. Jordana has been accepted to the board.
The new center will work as a "clearing house for all types of organizations," said Alan Spaltzer, chairman of the Barness Family Center for Tzedakah and Social Justice Task Force, which oversaw the creation of the center.
"Anybody that has a need for any type of social action information can come to the Barness Family Center and get information on who to contact for any type of specific needs or individual needs."
About 12 years ago, Cindy Weiser joined Chai's social action committee and was asked to join the task force because of her past work for the congregation.
"It is not just the kids that need to be out there picking the fruit off the trees or planting trees ... we need to be involving everybody," she said.
Details
- What: Dedication of the Barness Family Center for Tzedakah and Social Justice
- When: 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14
- Where: Temple Chai, 4645 E. Marilyn Road, Phoenix
- Call: 602-971-1234
|
|
