Activities teach director lessons

The Jewish community
focuses on the plight of the hungry.

By LINDA M. LINONIS

VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR

YOUNGSTOWN — Some projects turn into food for thought by their very nature.

Three recent activities involving the Jewish community did just that for Bonnie Deutsch Burdman, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council.

Burdman and Dr. Helene Sinnreich, a JCRC board member and professor of Judaic and Holocaust studies at Youngstown State University, participated in a national Food Stamp Challenge in September, around the time of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

Also during that time, the High Holiday food drive was begun. And, the JCRC is supporting the Jewish Council for Public Affair’s anti-poverty campaign, whose slogan is “There shall be no needy among you.”

The 16th annual High Holiday food drive, which involves local synagogues and Jewish organizations, took place Sept. 13-Oct. 9. Burdman estimated that 2,000 pounds of food had been collected and will go to Second Harvest Food Bank.

“We got a lot of new donors,” Burdman said, and speculated that publicity surrounding the Food Stamp Challenge put some of the spotlight on the need for contributions to the food drive.

Burdman said in previous years a brown paper grocery bag was mailed to members of the Jewish community and other donors. But that, she said, has become cost prohibitive. “We lost the trigger for product donations,” she said, but added, “More monetary donations came in.”

As for the Food Stamp Challenge, Burdman said it lived up to its name. “Psychologically, I really had to plan my meals. I was overly meticulous about food choices.”

Physically, she said, “I wanted more because I couldn’t have it.”

Burdman and Sinnreich went grocery shopping together and used the cash equivalent of what each would have on the assistance program — $21 — for the week. They pooled their money to stretch what they bought.

Burdman blogged on the council’s Web site, www.jewishyoungstown.org. She said she also received phone calls and e-mails from community residents — some offering encouragement and others, dependent on food stamps, offering empathy.

Early in the challenge, Burdman wrote in her blog, “Already I have learned what it is like to finish a meal, but still be hungry. And I must say this hunger is different than any kind of hunger I have previously felt. Sure, I’ve missed meals before, intentionally or otherwise. And yes, I’ve ... whined that I was starving. But this is different. Because now, once I complete a meal, there is no more. And if I do eat more, there is a chance that I will have nothing left for later in the week.”

Burdman said the challenge also emphasized to her how some people may be faced with choices of buying food or medicine or maybe paying their rent or a utility bill.

“It made me more aware of how much food we waste. There’s no excuse for that,” she said.

The Food Stamp Challenge, Burdman said, is designed to call attention to the inadequacy of the program to national, regional and community leaders.

In Judaism, the highest form of charity is preventing the situation that causes the need in the first place. The JCPA anti-poverty campaign addresses hunger and other issues including housing, health care and education. Each month, Burdman said, the local Jewish council will focus on an issue and tie into a local program.