B'YaChad Gift Baskets Ready for Delivery
B'YaChad is a project BOND initiated in St. Paul similar to BOND's longstanding Hag Sameach project in Minneapolis. 2011 was our second year conducting the project in St. Paul.
We distributed 118 or so holiday gift baskets reaching 179 people. Eight to ten BOND members who served on our steering committee of 18 people and several more participated in the packaging-day events.
We had wonderful community involvement from all the St. Paul synagogues and organizations. Elaine Alper, a St. Paul BOND member and former art teacher, is the guru in charge of the packaging, and taught us how to make them look beautiful.
We received the following note received from Chris Rosenthal of Jewish Family Service:
I just wanted to share with you the feedback our senior services case managers have received from their clients. Our interns and myself were able to deliver many of the baskets on Wednesday afternoon.
Our case managers reported that when they got to the office on Thursday morning, their voice mails were flooded with phone calls from their clients expressing their delight and gratitude for the beautiful/wonderful baskets they received. They were clearly so touched by the generosity and by the thoughtful selection of gifts.
I can speak for myself (and I think I would speak for other staff as well) that I purposely find a reason to walk past the room at JFS holding the baskets several times a day, because it is simply a beautiful sight and it raises my spirits.
Thank you!
Chris Rosenthal, LISW Senior Services Supervisor
Jewish Family Service
This article was written by BOND Board Member and St. Paul Community Service Chair Rhoda Redleaf.