THE WAUKEGAN SCHOOLS MARK OUR FIRST TEMPLE-WIDE
SOCIAL ACTION PROJECT as Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Empty Nesters,
Religious School, our Youth Groups and our B'nai Mitzvah
candidates
have joined together to assist the Waukegan School District.
One of the most impoverished districts in northern Illinois,
the Waukegan schools lack sufficient libraries and school
supplies and offer only limited after-school sports activities,
field trips and art enrichment programs.
Everyone at the Temple has worked together, from the Brotherhood
and Sisterhood to the Empty Nesters, the Sunday School and
the congregation at large to make this program an amazing
success. Here is what we have accomplished so far:
The
entire congregation participated in collecting over 300
backpacks and school supplies for students for the 2006/07
school year.
Sisterhood raised funds from the sale of its cookbook
for the Waukegan Public Schools to purchase educational
on-line publishing software so teachers can create their
own class materials for five and six-year-olds at Whittier
School.
The entire congregation donated 4000 new and gently used
books for 5 to 6 year olds to build a library
at the Whittier Kindergarten Center in Waukegan. United
Way built beautiful shelving for the books.
Temple Jeremiah Religious School children brought money
to school and purchased over 400 level readers for Whittier
Kindergarten Center (see photos
below) to help build its reading program.
Empty Nesters started a one-on-one Reading
Program where 23 Temple members go to the Whittier School
every month and engage in a hands-on program to read to
kindergartners.
Sunday School donated hundreds of gloves, hats and scarves
for 120 homeless children who attend the Waukegan Public
Schools.
A congregant in the education business donated 500 educational
videos to the Waukegan elementary and high schools.
A congregant in the furniture business secured furniture
for the new Whittier School
Library.
A congregant in the audio-visual business donated two
32-inch TVs to the Waukegan schools.
The temple's Annual
Meeting on June 13, 2006 included recognition of the many
congregants who volunteered to make the Waukegan School District
project a success this year.
Ongoing
Initiatives
Reading Program
Empty Nesters is looking for adult congregants to read and
play educational games with kindergartners at Whittier Kindergarten
Center in Waukegan once a month during the school day. The
time commitment is flexible - one day/one session per month,
usually on the third Tuesday or Wednesday.
Volunteers are assigned a cooperating teacher. Veteran
volunteers will return to their previous assignments. Materials
are already in the classrooms. This is a highly gratifying,
worthwhile experience.
Contributions to the Waukegan Schools Project can be made
through Social Action. Send a check payable to the temple's
Social Action fund and designate"Waukegan School Project."
Contributors may identify where their donations should be
forwarded, i.e. Library, Technology, Basal Readers, or Artist-in-Residence.
Each one of these is being actively pursued by an entity
of Temple Jeremiah.
Past
Waukegan Projects
College Initiative
2009
Temple Jeremiah helped to build a College and Career Center
at Waukegan High School. The Center became fully operational
in summer 2009, marking the first such center for the high
school. Under the auspices of Brotherhood, congregants
painted and carpeted
an unused
computer lab
room, transforming
it into a state-of-the-art college center. Sisterhood led
a book drive to stock the center with college and testing
reference books for the students.
Thanks go to Barb Miller for spearheading the project, Julie Ford for designing the space and all the other congregants for pitching in to make this center available to students: Miff Ardell, Rabbi Paul Cohen, Anna Cohen, Charles Gurian, Bill Johnson, Steve Miller, Michael Pfeifer,
David Pfeifer, Greg Richards, Brad Ross, Joel Rovner, Jackie Rovner, Danielle Rovner and Larry Tracey.
Temple Jeremiah collected books for the district's soon-to-be
consolidated high school.
Waukegan Learning Kitchen
2008
Pictured below are Brotherhood members and other Temple
Jeremiah congregants pitching in on Sunday, January 6, 2008
to transform the kitchen at the EPIC Preschool into a learning
kitchen for the students and staff there:
(From
left) Brad Ross and Joel Rovner
Steve Miller,
Greg Richards and Joel Rovner
Ernie Frankl
Backpack Drive
2006/07 School Year
Congregants and Sunday School students collected and filled
backpacks with schools supplies for the Waukegan students
in 2006/07. Thanks to everyone for their generous contribution.
Temple Jeremiah’s Religious School collected new
warm clothing items and basic-level readers for needy students
in the school district. Thanks to the generosity of our
congregants and school children, we collected dozens of
new hats, scarves, mittens/gloves and socks, as well as
400 level readers. Thank you!
Recognitions
United Way of Lake County
"Celebrated Volunteers"
Rabbi Paul Cohen, Lynn Tracy, Manager
of Community Engagement at United Way, and temple
congregant Barbara Miller at the United Way Annual
Meeting
May 2007
Temple Jeremiah was recognized for its efforts on behalf
of the Waukegan School District at the United Way of Lake
County's Annual Meeting, "Celebrating the Power of
Community," in May, 2007. Temple Jeremiah was among
the "Celebrated Volunteers" contributing to the
United Way's "Success by 6" early learning initiative.
Rabbi Paul Cohen and Social Action Committee Co-Chair Barbara
Miller were on hand at the presentation ceremony.
"Success by Six" recognizes the importance of
children learning at an early age in order to be successful
later in life. To achieve that goal, United Way has launched
a number of initiatives, including investing money to meet
basic health and housing needs, printing human service resource
guides, creating a Women's Leadership Council to improve
the lives of Lake County's women and children and publishing
the first "Kindergarten Readiness Calendar" to
prepare preschool age children for kindergarten.
But United Way also looks to the outside community for
assistance and Temple Jeremiah, along with a number of other
community organizations and individuals, have been in the
vanguard of volunteers who, in the words of Lake County
Recorder of Deeds Mary Ellen Vanderventer, helped to "drive
the strategic direction and work of Success by 6."
Specifically, the temple was recognized for building a
new playground at the
EPIC Pre-School led by Brotherhood, conducting a backpack
and school supply drive, providing a one-on-one
reading program for kindergartners at Whittier School
led by Empty Nesters and providing educational on-line publishing
software for teachers led by Sisterhood. Temple Jeremiah's
contributions were considered particularly remarkable because
of its distance from Waukegan. "The commitment of the
entire congregation to reach out to an entire community
of children is very admirable," Jennifer Yonan of United
Way notes.
Temple Jeremiah is proud of its efforts to help Waukegan
area residents and plans to continue to work on their behalf.
The temple's 2006
Annual Meeting included recognition of the many congregants
who volunteered to make the Waukegan School District project
a success this year.
Open House at
Whittier Kindergarten Center
May 17, 2006
Whittier School
This ceremony at Whittier School, officiated by Rabbi Cohen,
honored the partnership between the Waukegan School District
and the many people at Temple Jeremiah who aided in its
growth this year, including
The
entire congregation participated in collecting over 300
backpacks and school supplies for students for the 2006/07
school year.
Empty Nesters is looking for adult congregants to read and
play educational games with kindergartners at Whittier Kindergarten
Center in Waukegan once a month during the school day. The
time commitment is flexible - one day/one session per month,
usually on the third Tuesday or Wednesday.
October, 2006
