Do you remember what it was like when the 1900s was coming to an end and the world was moving into the new Millenium? Where were you the last week or so of 1999? What were your goals for the year 2000? It feels like a life time ago and yet, some of my goals are really very much the same.
It is now the second week into 2020. Everyone is talking about reflecting on the last year or last decade and reviewing your goals. The truth is, we review our goals several times a year. Definitely in Elul as we approach the Jewish New Year and again as we complete our books for the fiscal year and move on to the new secular year.
I found it interesting that as December progressed, I had a few experiences that forced me to review how things are progressing with this site. I think about my long term goals and I really believe that the cause we aim to assist is a needed one. Sadly though, our sales are not yet at the level to enable us to sustain basic expenses let alone to meet our long term goals. As I think about those who have approached us for help and those we tried to assist, I realize that we need to revize how things are operating and take a step back before continuing to focus on those we wish to be helping.
If you have read our previous post about what social entrepeneurship is, you will discover that we would love to reach the stage where a percentage of proceeds enables us to assist widows and orphans. Some of the motive behind this comes from my own life experience since my paternal grandfather died 4+ months before my father was born, rendering his wife a widow and their daughter and new baby (my father) an orphan.
In one of my videos on my YouTube Channel I talk about what inspired me to recognize the importance of strengthening the woman (wife and or mother) in the home. Empowering widows and orphans is really an extension of that.
For several years, we were assisting orphans at the time they marry. For a number of reasons I had to alter the nature of assistance provided. Currently we offer a gift package with toiletries and cosmetics for brides who are orphaned from one or both parent. So it is that a few weeks back I had a virtually complete gift package and began searching for the right orphan Kallah to give this gift to. I had one Kallah approach me and show interest in the assistance we could offer. You might think that being given a gift package of toiletries and cosmetics is unnecessary or not needed. I think of my own situation when I was getting married as a Kallah whose father had died when I was in school. I never had a bridal shower or Tichel party and did not receive any toiletries or cosmetics. If I was offered the kind of package we put together, I would have been so grateful to receive it. The truth is, I’d love to give more but with sales being so slow, at present it’s taking 8-10 months to put just one package together.
Regarding the most recent Kallah, she contacted us too close to her wedding and as a result was very stressed . We always request that Kallot give some time prior to their wedding and not leave things to the last minute. Was the timing what caused her to get totally confused as to what kind of gift we offer? I really don’t have the answer. I do know that I became bewildered when I received an email 2 weeks after her wedding to let me know that they received enough items for their kitchen and therefore would “not be coming to collect our gift. “
I am happy to hear that she received enough from her wedding gifts but wait a minute! The gifts received were enough for the kitchen. Our gift is a little more personal. It’s a gift package lovingly put together of toiletries and cosmetics? What did it matter now anyway? Our gift was supposed to be to help make the Mikvah experience a beautiful one. What would the gift package matter as much now?
I felt sad in many ways as I thought about the insults some had sent in regarding the fact that we were putting Mikvah packages together. I felt disappointed to think how close we came to help a Kallah who had no family to assist and yet, how very far. Oh well, we will continue our search.
In the meantime, while toiletries have slowly been given to us to assist with this project, or purchased by us from a percentage of sales, so too some have given dry food items instead. I was not really looking to put food hampers together. But hey, there are many hungry and poor people in Jerusalem. The poverty rate is very high, so why not offer a food hamper. Surely it will be easy to find the right recipient for this?
I would have thought so, but amazingly it’s been a tad more challenging than I expected it could be. First I contact two rabbis in our area. Neither of them knew needy families who could benefit from a food hamper / basket. Neither did they know of any widows. How can that be? I began to network a little further and still came up dry.
Then my husband and I thought of someone we had seen posting about his difficulties in certain online groups. Why not reach out to that person? We decided to give it a try and to my amazement I had a similar experience to that of the Kallah. The Kallah had turned down the Mikvah package and then stated she had enough kitchen items. This time we were told, the food items might be nice but can you give me a certain appliance and some new winter clothing?
Oh dear, we really are not such a huge organization. To be honest, for larger items I would really rather assist the widows or orphans to gain the skills necessary to purchase the items themselves. That is why the project I am working on is related to empowerment not just giving handouts. Where is the message getting confused?
As I tried to figure out how to get the food hamper to the right address, I was contacted by someone in another city who was in need of all kinds of assistance with her Aliyah. In truth, her needs fit into the coaching and mentoring that we offer but this is a paid service, we are not able to offer this for free. Perhaps we should add a gift voucher or certificate for those interested in sponsoring one or more coaching or mentoring sessions?!
As we prepared our accounting records for 2019, I thought about my goals. I think about the many stories that come into the news. I think about the cases I came across in the hospitals and schools I have worked in. I think about the beautiful teachings from the Torah. The world needs a change. A big, major change for the better. We need more Torah and more Chessed. That is one of the motives behind our beginning Chessed Ve’Emet. However, we have to be honest, as beautiful as our goals are, we have to shift them to be long term goals. First and foremost we have to increase sales to enable our work to become self-sustaining. When we reach that level we can return to the ideals we have to help or empower widows and orphans. We very much look forward to reaching that stage.
What are your thoughts about helping widows and orphans? What are your thoughts when you read the news? Do the many varied traumas upset you? Do you yearn or dream of a better world? If your answer is yes, then we invite you to sign up for our newsletter. Purchase a piece of art or a creative gift and help us to increase our sales in 2020 so that we can bring our long term goals into the present, instead of their remaining a far off vision.