Count Me In: Social Impact Initiative at the PJCC - Peninsula Jewish Community Center

Count Me In

Join like-minded people to do good in the world, make friends, and build community. Count Me In engages participants to help repair the world (tikkun olam) and make a positive impact in our local community, regionally, and in the world.

We offer our volunteers the opportunity to build lasting relationships with each other, other agencies, and the community around them. We offer opportunities for people of all ages—children and adults. We believe that all people can help those in need and be a part of something larger than themselves.

Each person makes a difference. Together we are responsible for making our community a place where we uphold dignity for all and seek to improve the world through our actions. Join us!

“How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway… And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!”—Anne Frank

Make Lunches for Samaritan House

Upcoming 2024 Dates: July 13, August 10, September 14, October 12, November 9, December 14

Register
Do a mitzvah (good deed) and make sandwiches for our neighbors at the Samaritan House. On the second Saturday of the month, please make 20 sack lunches. Each lunch should include:

A sandwich. It can be deli meat, peanut butter & jelly, a cheese sandwich, tuna salad, or egg salad. Your choice.
A piece of fruit – apple, orange, banana
A small bag of baby carrots
A single serving package (1.5-2 oz) of either cookies or potato chips.
A juice box or water
Napkin

Please decorate your lunch bags and/or include a note of kindness.

Deliver your lunch bags to the back door of the Samaritan House kitchen located at 4031 Pacific Blvd in San Mateo at 10:00 am.

Registration required. Only sign up one person to represent your household. Each person signed up will need to make 20 lunches. If you have any questions, please contact Michele at msolomon@pjcc.org.

Volunteers Needed for Second Harvest Food Distribution

Food distribution is a great hands-on volunteer activity. This include assisting with set up, unloading and moving food from pallets to the distribution tables; sorting and distributing food; loading pre-packed food boxes into vehicles and clean up. This volunteer activity does require some heavy lifting (a minimum of 25 lbs.) and regular movement. This is best suited for volunteers with strong mobility and no back issues. It’s a fun, physical outdoor opportunity working alongside other volunteers and community members.

Distribution happens the first and third Fridays of the month at the Foster City Park and Recreation from 8:00 – 10:30 am. Minimum age is 18 years old.

If you are interested, please contact Michele via email at msolomon@pjcc.org or call 650.378.2780.

Foster City Park Cleanup Kits
Foster City residents: Help keep our parks beautiful! Borrow one of the city’s FREE Park Cleanup Kits for use in your neighborhood or in one of Foster City’s 24 parks.

Volunteers* can register their cleanup and check out a park cleanup kit that includes: 1 reusable 5-gallon bucket; 2 safety vests; 2 trash grabbers; plastic bags; and nitrile gloves. Or, choose a goose management park cleanup kit that includes gloves, 1 rake, 1 scraper, 1 scooper, and 1 bucket.

For more information, visit the City of Foster City’s website.

Foster City asks that the registering volunteer be 15 or older; however, people of any age can participate in a cleanup! Kits should be returned to the Foster City Parks and Recreation Department within one week of it being checked out.

Embrace Acts of Kindness!

It’s PJCC’s “Year of Chesed” (kindness) and we’re embracing actions—big and small—that spread #KindVibes!

So say “Count Me In” and spread the kindness! Some great ideas for the winter season include:

Offer handwarmers to those working in the cold.
Sign up to support a cause in our community.
Call a friend or family member and catch up.
Volunteer to feed the hungry at a shelter or assist in a local food drive.
Send a kind note to a colleague or classmate.
Plan or participate in a neighborhood cleanup day.
Put together a care package for someone who needs a bit of encouragement.
Collect baby clothes and supplies and donate them to new parents in need.
Start a healthy routine, such as a daily afternoon walk. Invite your coworkers, neighbors, or friends to join you.
Leave encouraging comments on social media posts of people who teach, inspire, or encourage you.

(Adapted from randomactsofkindness.org)

Find a full calendar year’s worth of ideas provided by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation! They’ve provided versions for home, work, and school… so no matter where you are, you can pass along the #KindVibes to those around you.

Kindness at Home

Kindness at Work Calendar

Kindness at School Calendar

Confronting Injustice

As a Jewish organization with a heritage built on an unambivalent call to justice, the PJCC recognizes that we must take a firm stance against the injustice, inequality, and hate that blights our society.

Read the PJCC’s statements on Racism, Injustice, and Solidarity with the Black Community and LGBTQIA + Rights.

Resources for Adults & Children

Books for Adults

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Children’s Books
I Am Rosa Parks by Brad Meltzer

Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment by Parker Curry and Jessica Curry

Bedtime Inspirational Stories: 50 Amazing Black People Who Changed the World

If You Were a Kid During the Civil Rights Movement by Gwendolyn Hooks

Civil Rights Then and Now: A Timeline of the Fight for Equality in America by Kristina Brooke Daniele

Movies

Get Out

12 Years a Slave

The Hate U Give

Moonlight

Things You Can Do Right Now

Speak Up and Support Others

Be an UPStander!
We have all been a bystander at one time or another. It can be uncomfortable. Often people do not respond because they do not want to be a target of abuse themselves. Raise you voice when you hear racist remarks. Standing up to racism can be a powerful sign of support. It can also make the offender think twice about their actions. When responding, always assess the situation and never put yourself at risk. Your actions do not need to involve confrontation.

Make Your Home a Safe Zone
Ten-year-old Cruz of Burlingame invites the Peninsula community to come together and put up signs of support in our windows. He says, “I want my generation to come together and be kind to each other. Love more. Smile more. I know we can stand together and see past color and see people for who they are inside. We all have beautiful skin.” Join Cruz and put a sign in your window showing your support for the Black community.

Educate Yourself

Supporting Jews of Color
Connect with Be’chol Lashon, Jewish Multiracial Network, Jews of Color Field Building Initiative, and other organizations elevating and centering Jews of Color.

One Anti-Racist Action a Day
This newsletter serves as a means of accountability and support by sharing one concrete, anti-racist action you can take each day—for example, a petition to sign or an email to send to a congressperson. Subscribe now.

Take Action

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national network of groups and individuals organizing for racial justice. Join a local SURJ Chapter and get engaged with the struggle for racial justice in our community.

Get More Weekly Action Tips
Our partner 2 for Seder has begun to send “Weekly Action Tips” with suggestions for small, meaningful activities you can do. Each Action Tip is effective against the bigger picture of hate and anti-Semitism. Most activities are quick and the most effective ones for you will involve an activity that you are already doing. Sign up today!

Educate Your Children

Talking to Your Kids about Race: A (Virtual) Conversation
How should parents talk to their children and teens about race? In this video, brought to you by the The Parent Education Series, they bring together a distinguished panel of experts to address this question, and to offer insights into an often difficult, fraught subject: race in America.

Panelists include Julie Lythcott-Haims, JD, MFA: Former Dean at Stanford, speaker, activist, New York Times bestselling author of How to Raise an Adult and Real American: A Memoir; Donald E. Grant, Jr., PhD: Executive Director, Center for Community & Social Impact, Pacific Oaks College; Eric Abrams, MBA: Chief Inclusion Officer, Stanford Graduate School of Education; and Kareem Graham, PhD: Senior Scientist (Immunologist), author of “White parents, talk to your kids about race” (San Francisco Chronicle, Opinion, June 9, 2020).

Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup from Pretty Good

31 Books to Support Conversations on Race, Racism, and Resistance

Talking With Children About Racism, Police Brutality and Protests by Laura Markham

Shalom Bayit

In the spirit of Kol Yisrael Arevim zeh ba-zeh, we are leading an effort to let survivors of abuse know that their Jewish community is here to support them. If you have someone you’re worried about right now, this is the time to message or call them. They might not be able to safely speak with you, but if you reach out they will know that you are there for them. If they are able to get a private minute, let them know that they don’t deserve to be abused, that it isn’t their fault, and that help is available.

Let them know that they can call Shalom Bayit’s free, confidential helpline: 866-SHALOM-7.

Friends and family of the person being abused are also welcome to call to get ideas for how to support.

Learn more about Shalom Bayit on their website.