February 2010
Shevat/Adar 5770
Event Quick Reference:
See member’s calendar
or call 206-855-7924 for event details.
February 19 – Shabbat – details TBA
February 22 – Super Supper
March 12-13 – Save the Date – Shabbaton Weekend with Arik
April 24 – Earth Day Work Party at Pritchard Park
MISHABERACH
Continued refuah shelaimas to Linda Golden and Melanie Solonsky – speedy and full recoveries to you both.
TORAH NEWS
Our Torah returns to Seattle where Rabbi Simon Benzaquen will continue his repairs and strengthening the connections
between each sheet.
SUPER SUPPER
Denise Brown is in need of relief/help on Monday, February 22. She can get things started, but may need to leave early (5-ish) to assist with another volunteer program. Anyone available/interested please email her – debrown33@msn.com, or call 780-0931.
TIKKUN OLAM
The Tikkun Olam committee reports that we decided to send the $1203.50 balance of this year’s fund to Haiti relief via the following organizations. These organizations and the many others that are working in Haiti will continue to need our help.
American Jewish World Services
Paul McMaster, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surgeon, describes what he and his team have seen and done since they arrived in Port-au-Prince to bring emergency medical care to earthquake survivors on January 15.
Here is the latest report from Partners in Health:
Wednesday morning, a strong aftershock earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince, temporarily shutting down operations at the general hospital in Port-au-Prince, as well as several other PIH sites outside the city. Since then additional smaller quakes continue to disrupt efforts on the ground.
Here’s a quick update on our work in Haiti despite these challenges.
PIH’s surgical teams continue to race against time to provide surgical care to earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince. Operating rooms at the central general hospital (HUEH) in Port-au-Prince are fully operational again after being temporarily evacuated on yesterday in response to the aftershock. PIH is still coordinating the relief efforts at HUEH and reports having 12 operating rooms opened 24 hours per day. Across the country, we have a total of 20 operating rooms up and running.
To date, PIH has sent 22 plane loads with 144 medical volunteers – orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, surgical nurses and other medical professionals – and several thousand pounds of medical supplies to support the more than 4,500
PIH health care providers already in Haiti.
Despite these accomplishments, our teams throughout the country continue to report a great need for additional medicines (antibiotics, anesthesia and narcotics), medical equipment (anesthesia machines and x-rays), medical supplies (IVs, tubing, irrigating saline), and water.
Our sites in the Central Plateau and the lower Artibonite are dealing with increasing numbers of patients and families seeking both medical treatment and refuge from devastated Port-au-Prince. Finding space and beds for post-operative care has become the next major challenge. In Cange, PIH’s 104-bed facility is overflowing: the church is serving as a triage center and the school as a recovery room. People are arriving in Cange at all hours of the day and night; many simply have nowhere to go.
“Our houses were crushed and our businesses destroyed. So we came to Cange,”
said one man who arrived in a bus with 12 relatives, including his mother-in-law who was critically injured. In Belladaire, near the border with the Dominican Republic (DR), up to 1,000 people are camped out at PIH’s hospital in temporary shelter, searching for family members and medical treatment. We expect that people will continue to return to the countryside, having lost their family, livelihoods, and homes in the capital city, and meeting the needs of this displaced population will be a major task in PIH’s long-term rebuilding efforts.
Finally, recognizing that many of our own Haitian staff, who are working tirelessly to save the lives of others, have also lost their own families and friends, PIH is also developing a post-trauma mental health and social service program to serve both staff and patients. The task ahead is a monumental one. And even as we heal wounds, mend broken bones, and provide basic necessities (food, water, shelter), its true magnitude grows before our eyes. But we know from 20-plus years of accompaniment the resiliency of the Haitian people. Through poverty, strife, hurricanes, disease and hunger, our Haitian friends and colleagues continue to amaze us. Their determination, spirit, and ability to overcome and survive is inspirational and humbling.
Partners In Health is determined to do whatever it takes, for as long as it
takes, to ensure that their struggle succeeds.
COMMITTEE PARTICIPATION – PURIM
We are in need of a chairperson & others to coordinate this year’s Purim celebration. JLC celebrates Purim on Sunday, Feb. 21. The actual day of Purim is the following Sunday, Feb. 28. Anyone want to step to the plate? A venue is high priority. What have you done for your chavurat lately? Please contact Denise & she will direct you to the right people.
How to Celebrate Purim (courtesy eHow)
The most rollicking holiday on the Jewish calendar, Purim marks the day Queen Esther of Persia outwitted her husband’s evil henchman, Haman, who planned to kill all the Jews in the kingdom. Purim usually falls sometime in March, on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. Read aloud the Megillat Esther, the Scroll of Esther, which tells the story of the playboy King Ahasuerus, his chief advisor Haman, and how Esther’s wits saved her people from execution. Have kids dress up in costumes and stage skits that tell the story of the holiday. (Make? and ) serve Hamantaschen,
FROM THE IFC
Earth Day 4/24/2010
Again this year we will be tackling Scotch Broom and other invasive, noxious weeds at Pritchard Park, working alongside the Weed Warriors. Bring gloves & tools and spend an hour or spend the day.
HAPPENING ON BAINBRIDGE
TAX HELP: Free income tax assistance & electronic filing is available for seniors and low-to-middle income taxpayers at the Bainbridge Public Library, Feb. 1 – Apr. 14. Hours are MWF 10:30-1, Mon. eve 5:30-7:30, and by appointment only-Sat. Bring all pertinent forms and 2008 tax return. Volunteers are trained and sponsored by the IRS and AARP. Information: 780-0931.
HAPPENING OFF ISLAND
The Compassionate Listening Project will be hosting a Systemic Family Constellation Retreat with Dr. Dan Booth Cohen in Seabeck, WA the weekend of March 26 – 28, 010. Follow link for more information: http://www.compassionatelistening.org/?s=systemic+family+constellation&x=26&y=7
HAPPENING IN SEATTLE
History Uncork’d: A Wine Tasting Fundraiser for the Washington State Jewish Historical Society Date: March 10, 2010 Time: 7pm – 9pm
Where: Howard House 604 Second Ave, Seattle 98104
Wine lovers heed this call!!! The WSJHS will host its annual spring fundraiser. Enjoy some of Seattle’s top wines, and rub elbows with new and old friends. Mingle and enjoy some light kosher hors d’oeuveres. Win door prizes of fine wines and support Washington State Jewish History.
Guest Speakers:
Richard Kinssies, Former wine columnist of the Seattle PI, Director of the Seattle Wine School, and Owner of the Wine Outlet.
Eric LeVine, Founder of CellerTracker
The board invites you, and promises a good time. To reserve a spot, call 206-774-2277 or email reservations@wsjhs.org. Bring a friend or two who are prospective members. Don’t miss this special event. Kosher and non-Kosher wines will be served in separate stations…. And bring that friend!!!!
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