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Jewish High Holy Days
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| Step-by-step guidelines |
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The goal of MAZON’s “The Corners
of Our Fields” campaign is to raise money
for MAZON’s work in your community and beyond,
and to collect food for local charities. Critical
to the success of this effort is promoting an understanding
that donations of both food (to a local charity)
and money (to MAZON) are crucial to finding a long-term
solution to the hunger crisis. Read
more about why.
 MAZON provides synagogues with a camera-ready ad
for placement in a synagogue bulletin or newsletter;
hunger-related sermon notes; and “The Corners
of Our Fields” contribution envelopes, which
can be stapled to grocery bags distributed to your
congregants on Rosh Hashanah, or placed on each
seat in the sanctuary on Yom Kippur.
Envelopes are available in any quantity you desire.
Please contact us by phone or by fax, and we’ll
be certain to get them to you in a timely manner.
Or order now by emailing
us.
Please note: The "Corners of Our Fields" materials will be available as downloads from our
website beginning two months prior to the Jewish
High Holy Days.
The following are tried-and-true steps to ensuring
a successful High Holy Days anti-hunger campaign:
1. At least one month before Rosh Hashanah:
- Recruit leaders from different committees
and groups within the congregation to help organize
the drive.
- Identify a local food bank or homeless shelter
that needs your donations. If you do not have
a relationship with a food bank in your area,
call MAZON at (310) 442-0020. Ask if the food
bank needs a particular type of food. If so,
be sure to publicize this information on your
grocery bags. High-protein foods and baby formula
are usually the most desired products.
- Publicize “The Corners Of Our Fields”
by printing the camera-ready ad in your synagogue
newsletter.
- Order grocery bags. In many areas, a local
supermarket donates the bags. If asked, some
will customize your bags with information about
the campaign.
- Order MAZON envelopes.
- In advance of the High Holy Days, explain
the project on Shabbat from the bimah, including
information about how the collected food will
be distributed. Be sure to announce what types
of food are most needed.
2. One week before Rosh Hashanah:
- Prepare the grocery bags for distribution
by attaching any guidelines you might have for
specific types of donations. Be sure to give
instructions for where and when to return the
bags and envelopes.
- Staple a MAZON envelope to each bag.
- Arrange to receive and transport the collected
food. Find a suitable storage area in the building,
or place a truck in the parking lot. If you
park the truck on the street, you might need
a permit from the local police. See if the food
bank can pick up the donation. If they cannot,
look for a few congregants to volunteer their
vans and their driving skills.
3. The day before Rosh Hashanah:
- Put bags on seats in preparation for Rosh
Hashanah services, or distribute the bags as
congregants leave the sanctuary at the end of
services. The "bag-on-the-seat" method
with the MAZON envelope has proven to be the
most effective way of putting the material in
people's hands.
4. On Yom Kippur:
- Encourage your congregants to donate to MAZON
the amount of money they would have spent to
feed themselves and their families on this day
of fasting.
5. After Yom Kippur:
- MAZON will send a report to each participating
synagogue on the dollars raised by the campaign.
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