Jewish life

5 Things to Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving

It’s hard to believe it, but we’re already getting ready for Thanksgiving. We’re all about celebrating holidays at Maot Chitim, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate a holiday than to practice gratitude. These are just a few of the things that we’re giving thanks for this Thanksgiving.

1. The Chicagoland Jewish community

We like to think that our Jewish community here in Chicago is pretty special. We love when the whole community comes together to celebrate, especially for our Rosh Hashanah and Passover deliveries. Our community is the perfect balance of diverse and close-knit.

2. Delicious food

It’s easy to stress about the intricacies of Thanksgiving dinner, and easy to take for granted that we even get to have such an extravagant meal, or really any meal at all. We are reminded of this when we deliver packages to those who need it for the Jewish holidays, but it’s important to remember year-round.

3. Warmth

During this unseasonably cold fall season, let’s be thankful for warm clothes and heating in our homes. It’s easy to complain about the cold every time we walk outside, but it would be even more uncomfortable without winter coats.

4. Shelter

There are many things to worry about on a daily basis, but we should be grateful if stressing about where to stay at night is not one of them. Even though houses are a huge responsibility and burden, they are also a privilege.

5. Family

Thanksgiving is, for many people, one of the only times when the whole family can be together. This can cause drama or tension, but at the end of the day it’s important to acknowledge the blessing of getting together as a family.

There are so many ways to practice gratitude this November. You can start a journal or share something you’re thankful for at your Thanksgiving dinner. A great way to turn your gratitude into something tangible is to help others who need help with basic necessities this winter by donating to organizations who are doing work to end hunger and homelessness. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thank You, Volunteers!

The very heartbeat of a non-profit organization is its volunteers. While some charitable organizations offer food delivery and nourishment for their communities, Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago volunteers provide nourishment to hearts and souls.

Why You Are Needed

Many people think kosher foods are simply blessed by a rabbi, but there is much more involved in kosher food production. You can see why their prices prohibit many of our Chicago-area neighbors from traditional worship:

…Most reliable kosher agencies require full-time supervision for Passover production. And it’s not just for the finished product, but for each of its ingredients. Take, for example, that expensive bottle of ketchup. …Not only does the ketchup have to be made under full-time supervision for Passover, but so do the spices, vinegar, and oils that flavor it. …In just about all the cases, companies must clean production equipment thoroughly to get rid of any non-kosher-for-Passover ingredients. –Benyamin Cohen

How We Benefit When You Volunteer

Our recipients say your smiling face and compassionate attitude lift their spirits.
When you tell others about volunteering, you act as a public relations asset!
You allow us to focus on our daily tasks when you focus on “the real work;” packaging and food delivery.
You keep us informed about people in the Jewish community who need our help.
You often bring new ideas and better ways of doing what we have done over 100 years.
Your energy invigorates us and inspires us to continue doing what we do.
Your feedback and suggestions help us help others.

This year our warehouse is located at 7080 N McCormick, in Lincolnwood. We will be delivering enough food to feed over 15,000 people. Please join us on March 25th!

Hats for Purim

If you’re looking for Purim hats or costume ideas, you can’t go wrong with Pinterest. And if you’re planning a party, be sure to include Purim Song by the Maccabeats. Festivity, hats and costumes, gift baskets, the Megillah, and hamantaschen are what we think about when it’s time to celebrate Purim.

Haman and the Three-Cornered Hat

As if we needed an excuse to eat cookies? The story goes that Haman the Agagite wore a 3-cornered hat. So we celebrate his demise by eating his hat.

Research by renowned scholars into the tradition of hamantaschen for Purim, which goes back to the Middle Ages and for which the exact translation is “Haman’s pockets,” has never been explained. But the Swedes “have a suspiciously similar cookie, called Napoleon’s Hats or ‘Napoleonhattar,’ which are traditionally filled with almonds. That actually makes a certain degree of sense: Tri-cornered hats were popular in Napoleon’s time,” says Jewcy.

It’s a Mitzvah to Wear a Funny Hat

Author Lawrence Cohen says for his rabbi, wearing a funny hat to the reading of the Megillah is “…the supreme mitzvah. Visiting the sick, accompanying the dead, attending the bride, don’t even come close.” In fact, rabbis are so divided on the why-do-we-wear-the-hat topic that at one historical point they declared Teyku (“Let the decision be made by Moshiach when he comes.”).

Perhaps the ‘Hats’ are ‘Crowns’

Another theory reigns: The hats are supposed to represent the crown of King Ahasuerus, who decided to kill Haman rather than the Jews. His decision may have been self-serving: He wanted to keep his wife Esther around, but we remain happy he chose that option.

Celebrate Purim

If you have the real reason we wear funny hats to celebrate Purim, let us know! Meanwhile, we wish you and your family and friends Chag Purim Sameach! Wear a funny hat Thursday, March 1, 2018. Another Mitzvah for Purim is Matanot L’evyonim, which translates to donations to the poor or charity. You can donate to Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago by clicking here.

It’s a mitzvah.

Leaving a Legacy for the Future

You are following those who cared for you, taught you, loved you . . . The ones who left a legacy for you. Now, it’s your turn. Leaving a legacy is important! Think about the people who ensured a legacy for us:

Grandparents
Neighbors
Men and women who pursued better lives for us and future generations; politicians, scientists, explorers
Our founding fathers
Parents
Teachers, coaches

These are the people who have shaped the way you live today, and many of them may have left you both memories and legacies you won’t soon forget. Living a good life means taking what you have and making it what you want it to be.

Why Leaving a Legacy for the Future is Important

All of us are leaving legacies to those who follow; most of us have strived to live moral, healthy lives without harming others – and when possible, helped others. Here’s why we should remember that our legacies are important:

Leaving a legacy is an act of responsibility. Good men and women don’t simply leave behind good or bad memories (legacies) for others. They create their legacies by building a life founded upon caring enough about others to leave them a meaningful and positive legacy.

We are stewards of this world; we should leave it better than we found it.

We can curb our selfishness by thinking about the legacies we leave. Leaving money so that a hospital wing or art gallery bears your name is one thing. But when you donate that money in the true spirit of helping others, you’re helping yourself, too. Every day lived well, with a sense of purpose and a goal to help others increases your happiness and wellness.

With your help

As you sit near your fireplace or snuggle on the couch with your favorite afghan and a cup of warm tea, you feel safe and protected against the winter winds, hunger, and fear of famine. But did you know Jewish families live in poverty, close to your home? With your help, Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago has established a tradition of charity to our people in need for over 100 years. And now, if we raise enough new donations before June 30, 2018, Maot Chitim will receive an additional $10,000 through an incentive grant! When you join the Maot Chitim Legacy Society, your gift will sustain Chicago-area Jewish families in need for many years. Your bequest can be included in:

Cash or assets
Charitable gift annuity
Charitable remainder trust
IRA or pension funds
Life insurance
Your will

Call 847.674.3224 or contact Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago today to help us meet the requirements of this incentive grant.

There are certain things we can only do together. -Barack Obama

How to Involve Children in Volunteering

The concept of volunteering is difficult to explain to a small child, but they appreciate that helping others is a good thing. By the age of 4, most children understand, “I need help with dusting furniture,” and many can say, “I need a volunteer…”

Tips to Involve Children in Volunteering
Our friends at PBSparents offer the following tips to help you teach your child the value of volunteering:

First, be a role model.
Children copy their parents; when they see you helping others, they will want to do it as well. Two-thirds of children who volunteer become active volunteers as adults.
Choose an activity that offers immediate results.
Children get the most out of volunteering when they can see positive results. A littered park that is clean as the result of their efforts is a good example.
Find a fun, engaging volunteer activity.
Remember to choose volunteering for children that is age-appropriate and more like fun than work. Most children love animals, so walking dogs or taking a dog to a nursing home to visit patients might be a good idea. One pre-k teacher says the formula is 2x their age + one. That means 8-year-olds’ activity focus is solid for about 20 minutes; change their tasks as often as necessary.
Make volunteering as a family a regular activity.
Annual or more frequent volunteering as a family makes a huge impact on youngsters.
Pick a volunteer effort they choose and include it in the family calendar.
Children will be more excited if they can “see” their activity is just as important as the rest of the family’s.
Volunteering can be simple.
Choosing a toy from their toybox or shopping for a toy to donate is easy, especially when children physically place it among other donations.

Charity Begins at Home (Chicago)
We need volunteers to package and deliver food to those who are unable to afford sometimes-expensive foods need to worship in a traditional, Jewish manner at home. Our Passover Delivery Day is March 25th, 2018. It’s a wonderful experience for the entire family. Contact Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago to learn more.

Setting Your Charity Budget for the New Year

For most household budgets, charitable donations fall under the category of “disposable income,” and that indicator isn’t quite as strong. Income is rising, but the growth rate of disposable income has been slow.

Most how-to-donate advice says to stop donating sporadic, small amounts and focus on one or two charities, building your donation into your budget so they can build their budget based on your donation. It makes sense! But make no mistake – there are no charities that will turn away donations of any size, and we’re not too proud to beg, either!

How to Help

Even if you’ve never made regular donations to a charitable organization, you can build financial support into your budget. Here’s how:

Pick Your Cause

“The more you can align your actions with your beliefs, the happier you will start to become in every area of your life.” –Kate Dillman

Focus on your values and explore your passions. If easing hunger or preventing animal cruelty is something you would like to support, go that direction and research local, state, national, or international organizations.

Set Up a Bank Account

Create a savings account called “Donations,” and begin stashing money in it every paycheck. No matter how tight you are that particular pay period or month, there’s always something; buying a grocery store pizza vs. home delivery saves you $10, for example. Ten dollars may not seem like much, but it adds up.

What Can You Sacrifice?

“Your sacrifice doesn’t have to be big.” –Jennifer Bernstein

Your venti mocha latte is almost $5/day or $150/month. Maybe you can make an adjustment in your budget and sacrifice one or two items often enough to make a difference to those who are needy.

Automated Deductions, Donations

If you’re like most people, it’s easier to save money when it is paycheck-deducted. Try to set up auto-deductions into your “Donations” savings account. Once you’ve built up a respectable amount, decide how much you want to donate, how often, and set it up on autopay. Your charity will jump for joy because your monthly or quarterly donation is something they can depend on! They can better balance their own budget, thanks to you.

Matching Gifts

If your company does not have a matching gifts program, make a case for your charity and their help! Even “We’ll think about it,” is better than nothing and may lead to…something.

Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago

If charity begins at home, you have Chicago-area neighbors who will need food and support for the upcoming Passover Holiday. You can help us help them. Contact us to learn more.

Added Bonus of Volunteer Work: Preparing for Your Career

It’s back-to-school time for many families.

And for many Chicago-area students, 2017-18 is the year to focus on the future; career choices are abundant, but sometimes jobs are hard to find. If you want to hone your skills and get experience that makes a difference to potential employers, volunteering is invaluable:

Volunteering boosts your confidence.
Volunteering builds networking.
Volunteering helps you understand yourself as you learn from your weaknesses and strengths.

Volunteering at Maot Chitim

The hub of volunteer activity for Maot Chithim takes place at our warehouse, located about 20 minutes from our Northbrook office at 7100 N. McCormick, Lincolnwood, Illinois. Last year, we aided over 30,000 recipients – people who would have been unable to worship in the Jewish tradition.

Volunteer at the Warehouse

One week before a holiday delivery, volunteers gather at our warehouse to assemble boxes of non-perishable food. Warehouse volunteers must be at least 12 years old and must wear closed-toe shoes (no sandals or flip-flops) for safety. Not only can you volunteer yourself, but you can also coordinate your own group of volunteers! Warehouse packaging can be a way to actively interact with your book club friends while providing a very needed service.

Volunteer for Delivery Day

Deliveries have been made so much easier and faster, thanks to cellphone navigation apps! There are no age restrictions for delivery participants; drivers should have a valid driving license and auto insurance. Drivers are needed – especially drivers with SUVs, vans, and trucks – to deliver to multiple addresses in Chicago and nearby suburbs.

Life Lessons Are Free

As a student or job-seeker, your volunteering activities are an important part of your resume! If you would like to organize a group of people to volunteer for warehouse packaging or package deliveries, please contact our group coordinator at info@maotchitim.org. Even if you cannot volunteer in person, you can help Maot Chitim in many ways! Call 847-674-3224 or contact us today for more information.

Taking on Poverty/Hunger: What You Can Do to Help Now

Our Fall High Holidays are fast approaching! It’s a busy time of year for Jewish families, communities, and organizations like Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago. This year, Elul begins Monday, August 21. This is the perfect time for you, your children, and your grandchildren to begin holiday preparations. It’s also the perfect time to remember our older neighbors and those who are less fortunate.

You Can Help Now

Poverty and hunger don’t take a break during the holidays; if anything, the reality of impoverishment strikes those of our faith even harder. Special foods and our way of worship are deeply entwined whether we are celebrating or mourning. For Rosh Hashanah, round, braided challah bread symbolizes time’s annual cycle. During the month of Tishrei, bread and apples with honey represent our hopes for sweet things to come in the new year!

Your financial support and donations now, before the High Holidays of 2017 can help as many as 15,000 Jewish people worship and observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur meaningfully and joyfully. Their gratitude will be your blessing for the new year.

Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago

Your financial support goes beyond the holidays and into the hearts of those who live in poverty, and with hunger every day. Please call 847-674-3224 or contact us if you know of a family in need this time of year. Your referrals are another way to ensure others can worship traditionally.

Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we observe the Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim). This is a time in which we seek a closeness with God; a time for review of last year, atonement and repentance, reconciliation, and forgiveness. As you review what you could have done better or differently, know that when you help Maot Chitim help others, you’ll be blessed into the new year and beyond!

How You Can Help a Charity When Not Volunteering

“I’d like to – but I don’t have time!” Charitable organizations hear that phrase repeatedly, and it once meant, “You’re not one of my priorities.” In today’s technologically advanced, fast-paced world of today, it’s true: we really don’t have much time! Data indicates that we spend 30% of our lives getting dressed and preparing to leave the house (three percent of us take over an hour)! Or, you might have the time, but perhaps you have a physical disability that limits movement and travel. Maybe not leaving the house to help your charity is the solution.

Ways to Help from Home

You can “change the world in your pajamas,” says Help from Home.org! The website has ways to help your chosen charities, and you can even select the amount of time you have available – from under 1 minute to multiples of 30 minutes. Here are ways to help from home:

Do you speak another language? You can help charitable organizations with your translation skills!
People who are willing to answer surveys or contribute on a cellular level by donating tissue samples to research are needed. For example, you can volunteer for Jewish health clinical research.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur may be “end of summer” to many, but for Maot Chitim, they’re the beginning of a very busy year. To ensure our Chicago-area neighbors can worship with dignity, we need volunteers for meal deliveries. Can you dedicate a few hours to registering food packers/drivers?
Telephone counseling – Sometimes those in need want a friendly voice and a willing ear. You can call your charity’s recipients and ask how they are doing, family updates, etc. Be sure to provide what you learned to your charitable organization.
Telephone solicitation – Create a “script” and get its approval before you begin. Ask your charity to provide names and businesses to solicit, or create your list and have it approved. You can become a “telephone solicitor” for your organization!

Monetary donations continue to be the best help without volunteering. Contact us to learn more about ways to help Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago!

3 Mistakes People Make When Donating to Charity

Charity sees the need,
Not the cause.

We are taught it is our mission to help others. So we do. You’d think being a charitable person would, in itself, be a good thing but there are actually right and wrong ways to be charitable.

Personal finance writer Liz Weston says the best rule to follow when contributing to organizations that serve the needy is, “Take your time.” Shotgun-giving doesn’t help you make knowledgeable choices, and often the amount donated causes more problems than good. Here are three of the “charitable mistakes” many of us make:

1. Giving too little

By the time a $25 donation is processed, much less than $25 eventually trickles down to the needy. And any donation – no matter how small – indicates to a charity that if you are courted, you might give more. So the organization may spend twice as much as you donated trying to persuade you to increase future donations.

2. Emotional donations

Rather than make one-time donations based on an emotional appeal, it’s best to focus on one or two organizations that represent your passion for good. Let’s say your focus is child abuse. Now, let’s narrow it down even further: does an organization like CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) or Lunches of Love (LOL) speak to your passion for helping needy children?

3. Last-minute support

The year-end and new year holidays inspire us to be better people; we want to share some of our blessings with those less fortunate. Again, last-minute giving to random charities is not nearly as effective as regular donations to one organization. Your charity can build a budget around your regular donation when you make monthly donations. It helps with cash-flow, year round and better serves the needy than one larger donation at tax time.

Learn Before You Leap

No matter how heartfelt the request for charity, it’s simply best to avoid telemarketing and storefront solicitations. Maot Chithim of Greater Chicago is not a billion-dollar charitable industry with well-paid CEOs, so we get a big bang out of small donations! Call 847-674-3224 or contact us to learn more.

The Importance of Eating Together as a Family

It’s tempting – and let’s admit it – too often, it’s necessary – to eat meals on the run. One woman said she only saw her husband when they passed each other in cars as they chauffeured their children to and from practices and lessons. “He would wave his taco, and I would wave my burger, and that was supper!” she recalled.

When you’re finally all together at home, the kids want to play video games, talk to their friends on cellphones, and you’re so tired you just want to zone out in front of the television.

The “family dinner” is an infrequent, special event to most of us. But there are two important reasons you can and should strive to have family dinners every week.

Nutrition: Fast food = fried food. Obesity experts cite fast food as the leading cause of obesity in children.
Healthy Choices: Family dinners offer more variety, so kids are exposed to different types of food. The more often they are exposed to new foods – without the “Eat this or else,” warning – the more often they will try them. Plus, you control the portions. Americans have super-sized themselves into international obesity leadership roles.

When you are an active, dynamic household, family dinners are just one of the ways you can stay connected with each other. Volunteering together, as a family, gives your children lifelong skills and humanitarian values that will serve them and their children for eons. Volunteering helps your family unit learn about their individual personalities, too!

Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago is an organization that has served family dinners and kosher meals to needy people in the Chicagoland area for over 100 years. We understand that “time is money,” and appreciate the fact that it’s often easier to donate financially. But the lesson still applies when you include your family in a donation: Our legacy is one of charity; it is your mitzvah (commandment) to help others with a willing heart.

Call 847-674-3224 or contact us to learn more about ways your family can help our family!

Create a New Tradition: Volunteer as a Family

Helping others is a part of our culture. It’s also one of the ways we reinforce the importance of our traditions. Holiday volunteering is especially useful to youngsters; it helps them understand the blessings they have and the blessings they can be.

Your Volunteer Goals

The first positive benefit that family volunteering offers is that it enables a dialogue among family members: How can we serve? What can we do? What are our unique talents? As you plan your volunteering-as-a-family activity, discuss these points:

What do we care about and what is interesting to us?
What special skills/talents do we have?
What kind of volunteering is appropriate for every age in our family?
Should this be a one-time project or an ongoing activity?
What do we hope to accomplish?

Family Volunteering Benefits

The generationOn website says volunteering as a family helps your youngsters focus on things larger than themselves. Research confirms there are positive benefits for volunteers too, when they work with their family to help others.

Values such as caring and empathy are cultivated as well as a commitment to serving our community
Children – especially teens – feel appreciated and respected when they volunteer, plus they learn new skills that may serve them later.
Parents are able to act as role models and can use the time to open more channels of communications with their children.
Connections to the family unit and the community are reinforced while creating a more positive sense of self.
The age and generation gap becomes smaller as we recognize that each of us can effect change for the better: From grandparents to preschool, we can help.

Maot Chitim: Charity Begins at Home

Call 847-674-3224 or contact Maot Chitim to learn more about how your family can help. We know that your time is truly more valuable than money! If volunteering is not possible, your financial support can be a family project, too. And don’t forget to support our sponsors! We depend on their support and services, as we continue to help those who need us most in the Greater Chicago area.

Surviving a Chicago Winter: Share Knowledge and Warmth!

Not all Chicagoland people are natives, and they may not realize what we were born knowing: how to stay warm this winter. Share these tips for surviving Chicago’s Winter 2017 with your neighbors/newcomers, and remember to follow them yourself!

Cover feet/hands, wrists/ankles: Thin, cloth gloves are great as your layer under thick, waterproof gloves.
Cover your head/face: Wrap a heavy scarf around your head, under your cap or hat. Try to find one long enough that you can cover your lower face, adding another layer of protection.
Don’t forget your pets: Sweaters and parkas for your furry friend are advised for intensely cold days.
Enjoy a warm drink: You might consider taking a thermos of hot coffee, tea, or lemon water with you if you’re outside for any length of time.
Layer clothing: Chicago winds can penetrate the best jackets! You need at least two layers of clothing, and that includes socks and gloves.
Protect your lower body: Wear thin, thermal underwear underneath pants. For below zero days, don thicker thermals under and snow pants over.
Protect your upper body: An insulated parka that’s rated between -10ºF and 0ºF is a good idea. With its nylon exterior, it will also insulate you from freezing rain.

Sharing the Warmth Within Your Heart

Rabbi Elazar Muskin says we should “love kindness*.” You should not only willingly mitzvah; you should do so with warmth and happiness. Charity begins at home. For some of us, the world is “home,” but for many, home is an address or a country.

“Judaism . . . must also teach how to tithe with a smile,” says Rabbi Muskin. When you help others, you feel good about yourself! The volunteers and donors who support Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago are not only a blessing; they are blessed!

Even as we rejoice in the gifts God gave us, we need to help those who are cold and hungry. Chicago is home to many members of our Jewish “family” who are elderly, infirm, and needy. For them, home may be a very cold place that could use warmth inside and out.

*Micha 6:8