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23rd annual High Holiday Food Drive under way
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
“Go the Distance to End Hunger” defines the goal of the 23rd annual High Holiday Food Drive.
Bonnie Deutsch Burdman, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, and Emma Hetson, vice president of the Youngstown Chapter of B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, said their organizations are partnering in the effort to address the issue of food insecurity in the Valley. They spoke Tuesday afternoon at the Jewish Community Center, 505 Gypsy Lane.
“The High Holiday Food Drive reflects a faith-based commitment to help those in need,” Burdman said. “This is an opportunity for us to do some good as a group.”
Hunger is a pervasive problem, she continued, and the High Holiday Food Drive is a “significant way to help.”
Burdman cited tenents of Judaism — tzedekah, which means charity, and tikkum olam, “repairing the world” — by which Jews are required to do acts of good work.
Burdman noted the High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, are known as the Days of Awe.
“It’s a time of reflection ... on what we did and what we can do better,” she said.
Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown today and concludes with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which begins at sundown Oct. 3.
Burdman said the food drive has ranged from a collection, in pounds, from 1,500 to 3,000.
“A few years hit 4,000 pounds,” she said, adding the average is about 2,700 pounds.
She said Second Harvest Food Bank was chosen as a recipient because it is “well known and dedicated to feeding the hungry.”
Second Harvest is the “clearinghouse,” she said.
Burdman said the youth organization’s involvement demonstrates that the responsibilities of one’s faith are not limited to adults.
Emma, a junior at Hubbard High School, has belonged to BBYO since eighth grade.
She came up with the “Go the Distance to End Hunger” theme. Youngstown BBYO chapter has challenged all 18 Ohio Northern Region chapters to join with their local interfaith partners in a competition to collect needed nonperishable food items to support local food banks.
Whoever has the most “inches,” a way to measure cans and dry goods, will win.
“The food drive is a way to help the community,” said Emma, a daughter of Eric and Diane Hetson of Hubbard. She added that she hoped to get other youth groups involved in the project.
The food drive also has taught her something.
“I knew hunger was an issue in other places but I didn’t think of it here. It was an eye opener,” Emma said.
Emma has demonstrated her community-mindedness before.
For her 16th birthday Aug. 1, she asked well-wishers to contribute canned and dry goods in place of gifts.
She donated 188 pounds of food to Second Harvest.
Her connection to Second Harvest is in the family — her grandfather, the late Dr. Jacques Politi, donated the building in which the food bank operates.