The Park Avenue Synagogue lower level was filled with joyful noise on the Sunday before Thanksgiving as the PAS community turned out in force to fulfill the mitzvot of feeding the hungry, honoring the elderly, giving comfort to the ill, caring for those who have no family, and more. People of all generations had a wonderful time “making a difference” at Vicki K. Wimpfheimer Mitzvah Day 2015.
Thanks to all who attended, and thanks to the committee chairs, clergy, and staff for helping make this spectacular annual event come together.
Here is Mitzvah Day by the numbers:
- 2,300 dollars collected for tzedakah
- 1,500 bags prepared for the Food Pantry Thanksgiving distribution
- 1,200 books donated and sorted for Reading Reflections
- 700 people doing mitzvot, giving tzedakah and practicing hesed
- 550 children’s gifts wrapped and donated to UJA-Federation, JCCA, and child patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- 500 lunches made for Coalition for the Homeless
- 300 toiletry kits assembled for New York Common Pantry
- 300 Mitzvah Day bracelets on the wrists of 300 PAS kids
- 125 volunteers
- 100 tzedakah boxes on the mitzvah tree
- 200 Jewish children’s books donated to be shipped to JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) in Berlin
- 200 medic bags donated and packed for United Hatzalah
- 150 emergency preparedness kits put together for Selfhelp
- 125 quilt squares and scores of animal miniatures made for MJHS (Metropolitan Jewish Health System)
- 51 care packages made for Lone Soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces
- 50 birthday presents made for DOROT clients
- 45 Inches of hair cut and donated to Pantene Beautiful Lengths
- 40 care packages assembled for clients of The Blue Card
- 30 pints of blood donated
- 2 amazing Mitzvah Day Co-chairs: Nancy Korff and Susan Winthrop