Sam Miller, who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Temple Jeremiah in September, 2003, decided to turn the occasion into an opportunity to collect food for the poor. The 8th grader had participated in the temple's Feed the Homeless project the last several years and wanted to make the Mitzvah portion of his ceremony "meaningful to me and helpful to society."

Instead of bringing Bar Mitzvah presents, Sam asked his guests to bring an equivalent amount of non-perishable grocery and toiletry items to his party at Michael's restaurant. His family arranged for the Greater Chicago Food Depository to send a truck to pick up the "gifts". In addition, Sam used his Bar Mitzvah money to purchase food at Sam's Club.

His efforts resulted in almost 1,000 pounds of food, filling up half of a 14-foot truck. The donations were channeled into local food pantries, where it helped the unemployed, underemployed and those in need of temporary assistance.