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April 15 Message

“Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience and just plain loving one another.” – Erma Brombeck

Shabbat Shalom!

This week I learned that it was “Volunteer Week” (thank you to Debbi Goldich for pointing that out on a Torah Fund call) and what better topic to write about!

I did some research this morning and found out some interesting statistics. 62.6 million people volunteered at least once, through or for an organization between September 2014 and September 2015. And, we spent on the average of 52 hours on volunteer activities. Most of the volunteers were involved in either one or two organizations and the organization for which the volunteer worked the most hours was most frequently a religious organization followed by education. And, the most interesting fact (to me) was that the majority of volunteers that became involved..were asked…and most often were asked by someone within the organization!

All interesting facts…but all that totally resonate! So many times when meeting with a group of women from a sisterhood, I go around the room and ask, “How did you become involved?” And, the overwhelming response is typically, “My friend asked me to come with her” or “My friend dragged me to an event”! However, the end result is that we are a group of women that enjoy being together and enjoy working together! I have also said many, many times, that because of my involvement in my sisterhoods (in Miami and Tampa), my region and WLCJ I have friends all over North America and beyond. Women that I never would have met, let alone had the opportunity to work together to make our world, and the Conservative Movement a better place. We truly love one another…what a blessing!

Last week I wrote about my trip to Northern California (NxNW region) and our visits to so many of our sisterhoods in the San Francisco Bay area. We met “sisters” that we knew, but most that we did not. We (Dana Sirkin, region president and I) always found a connection…whether it was a mutual friend, a friend of a friend, or I even met a lovely lady in Foster City that attended the same elementary school in the Bronx that I did! We found out all kinds of information because we connected, we are compassionate, and we care about one another. I truly love these visits….and my bags are typically half packed….please invite me to an event…or for coffee….and hopefully we can make it work! Meeting our members is what keeps me going!

As we start (or continue) cleaning, shopping and cooking this coming week….think about how lucky we are to have one another! That because someone asked us to volunteer a few hours..how it has changed your life. And hopefully, you have someone in mind to ask to volunteer or participate in a WLCJ event!

Wishing each of you a very meaningful and peaceful Shabbat,
Carol