Social Action
Tikkun Olam, Repairing the World
BTEE Social Action committee and our members have participated in many activities in and around our community for many years - it is a central pillar of our Jewish practice. Here's a recap so you can have a sense of our achievements and the deep relations we've developed with our many community partners.
Mitzvah Day
Annually, we have a vibrant, multigenerational Mitzvah Day on the first Sunday of November. From a blood drive and a bone marrow donor drive, to various projects benefiting the Burbank Boys and Girls Club, Burbank title I schools, Valley Interfaith Food Pantry, Burbank Temporary Aid Center, Burbank Animal Shelter, FosterAll, and Jewish Home for the Aged, we have a project for everyone. We write letters and cards to American and Israeli soldiers and to children in hospitals. These are just some of the ways we have practiced Tikkun Olam on this special day over the years.
Food Justice
One week a quarter, BTEE community members provide dinners and share fellowship to unhoused families with minor children with Home Again LA (formerly Family Promise of the Verdugos) when they are staying with Burbank First Presbyterian Church. With steadfast support, we partner with this interfaith program annually since its inception over 10 years ago.
We also make "mitzvah meals" to hand to unhoused neighbors in Burbank and beyond - and we gather food / supplies at our High Holidays for Sova and Burbank Temporary Aid Center.
BTEE Social Action Members have been involved in Food on Foot in Hollywood, a program that runs every Sunday. Volunteers hand out lunches and clothing, then hear about the program from participants and graduates.
Our BTEE Hebrew School students have picked fruit from BTEE members' trees to donate to Food Forward to address food insecurity all over LA.
Interfaith Bridge Building
Over the years, BTEE participate in regular opportunities to collaborate with our interfaith partners. To name a few, we attend meetings, service days, the annual Holocaust Memorial Program sponsored by Burbank Human Relations Council, and the interfaith Thanksgiving service in Burbank through the Burbank Ministerial Association.
Greening
We are actively greening our BTEE campus by mulching our land, planting native pollinators and native fruit trees, as well as a Biblical garden that is regenerative, water-wise, and open to the public. We are actively reducing our waste stream, composting, and eliminating our plastic footprint. In the coming years, we are planning to decarbonize and decrease our fossil fuel reliance and eliminate our plastic footprint. We are actively reducing our waste stream, and composting. We are eager to increase our involvement in environmental and social justice efforts.
If any of this sounds like your jam, we would love to have you join us! We meet monthly for Brown Bag lunches.
Email our Social Action Chair, Beth Marcus at bsm938@gmail.com
on the 3rd Friday of the month, and you are invited.
Mitzvah Day
Annually, we have a vibrant, multigenerational Mitzvah Day on the first Sunday of November.
From a blood drive and a bone marrow donor drive, to various projects benefiting the Burbank Boys and Girls Club, Burbank title I schools, Valley Interfaith Food Pantry, Burbank Temporary Aid Center, Burbank Animal Shelter, FosterAll, and Jewish Home for the Aged, we have a project for everyone. We write letters and cards to American and Israeli soldiers and to children in hospitals.
These are just some of the ways we have practiced Tikkun Olam on this special day over the years.
Outreach
At BTEE we run holiday food drives for the following organizations:
Burbank Temporary Aid Center (BTAC)- Founded in 1974, the Burbank Temporary Aid Center has been providing individuals and families, the working poor, crime victims, senior citizens, and people without housing with the short-term emergency assistance they need to live with dignity. This includes bus tokens, showers and laundry facilities, and a food pantry. BTAC is located at 1304 W Burbank Blvd. They accept drop off items weekday mornings by ringing the rear door bell.
Sova-Sova is the food pantry of the Jewish Family Service Agency of Los Angeles. They have 2 locations, in Van Nuys and on West Pico. They provide free groceries, personal care items, and connection to other community resources as needed. They also distribute books so we have a book drive for them on Mitzvah Day each November.
