School Tzedakah Projects

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another. – Helen Keller

CKI's Religious School has always been committed to Tikkun Olam – Repair the World – by participating in various Tzedakah and Mitzvah projects throughout the school year.

2008-9 Projects:

September - December

This fall's Tzedakah project is raising money for the Foster and Adoptive Family Services' Fostering Wishes for Children. Each $75 raised can give one child their wish!

November

Our students raised $2545 during their Jump Rope for Heart Mitzvah Day which was held on November 16th, in memory of Michael Barr.

2007-8 Projects:

September/October

30 members of CKI participated in the "Autism Speaks" Walk on October 7, and raised over $3,500 for this project! (See photos.)

October - April

We collected nearly 30,000 soda can pull tabs to benefit the Ronald McDonald House in New Brunswick!

On April 13th, our 3rd and 4th grade classes went to the Ronald McDonald House to cook dinner for the families who are staying there while their children are being treated at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center. We made them pasta, meatballs, garlic bread, and salad.

November through January

By collecting Tzedakah and doing a "Bagging for Charity" day at Shop Rite in Bound Brook (see photos), we collected $600 to help the Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties raise money for ELI, the Israeli Association for Child Protections. The Federation is hoping to raise $50,000 to help fund a "Safe House" for Israel's abused children.

April - June

Tzedakah for S'derot - S'derot was once a quiet town bordering the Gaza Strip. For the past seven years Sderot has been under constant fire from Hamas Kassam rockets. Shelters are now scattered all over the town: in the public area and at bus stops, marketplaces, libraries, soccer fields, and schools. B'nei Akiva, a British youth movement, is raising money to help build playground shelters to protect the children of S'derot. Our tzedakah money will go toward these shelters.

2006-7 Projects:

September/October

We raised almost $300 to go toward the purchase of a refrigerator truck for Meir Panim, through the Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties: Meir Panim is a relief organization in Israel that runs soup kitchens, delivers hot meals to shut-ins and needy students, and provides financial aid to victims or terror attacks. (See www.meirpanim.org)

November/December

Our Mitzvah of Love Dance-a-thon (see photos) raised over $3100 for Israel's Alyn Hospital for Children. In addition, two of our Bat Mitzvah students took on this charity as their Tzedakah project, and raised an additional $2500!

January/February

Our Tzedakah project for HomelessBus.org (a "Mom & Pop" organization that helps the homeless in NYC) raised: $437.14 in cash (enough for 874 hamburgers), several boxes of backpacks and donated items, and $578.99 in "Sponsor a Backpack" donations.

March/April/May
We worked with the Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties, and raised $285 to provide much needed assistance to elderly Holocaust survivors in the New Jersey area.

CONGREGATION KNESSETH ISRAEL
229 Mountain Avenue
Bound Brook, NJ
732-469-0934