Synagogues collaborating to help enable food security, nutritional self sufficiency
 |
|
JHV: MATT SAMUELS
Philip Tenenbaum, Second Servings of Houston CEO Barbara Bronstein and Congregation Emanu El Rabbi Oren Hayon help load food on a Second Servings van. |
Every year around the High Holy Days, synagogues organize canned food drives to help those in need.
This year, Congregation Emanu El member Philip Tenenbaum is taking the mitzvah to the next level with a special collaborative program.
The Food & Faith Collaborative will be a hands-on initiative, bringing together four Houston synagogues and several community partners to help enable food security and nutritional self-sufficiency.
Congregations Emanu El, Beth Israel, Beth Yeshurun and Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism will work with Second Servings of Houston, Houston Coalition for the Homeless and UT Health to form free monthly pop-up grocery stores at a Houston apartment complex.
Volunteers from the synagogues will work with recipients on nutritional plans, provide meal preparation coaching and help build healthy-eating patterns to sustain Houston’s underprivileged.
“We want to help long term with food security and enable self-sufficiency in our community,” Tenenbaum told the JHV. “Collecting food once a year is great, but we want to take this beyond a one-day canned food drive on Yom Kippur.”
“This is a social action project that congregations will do together, and showing that kind of partnership is a win for everyone, especially the beneficiaries who really need it.
“To give someone who is hungry food is so meaningful. There could be nothing better during this time of year than looking someone in the eye knowing we made their day better.”
The plan is to launch the program officially in the second half of October or early November and go monthly after that.
Emanu El Senior Rabbi Oren Hayon has worked with Tenenbaum from the start and will join his fellow senior rabbis in promoting the initiative from the bimah this High Holy Days.
“This is a perfect example of what tzedakah looks like in the real world, and I feel so proud to be a part of it,” Rabbi Hayon told the JHV.
“It has been inspiring to watch Philip use his professional and volunteer expertise to create this new entrepreneurial venture to address hunger in our community.
“It is very special that he has conceived a project that’s guided by Jewish charitable priorities: aiming at lifelong self-sufficiency, in addition to the temporary relief of hunger.”
According to the Food & Faith Collaborative, more than 16% of Houstonians are food insecure and have limited or uncertain access to enough food, especially healthy options.
Demand at the Houston Food Bank soared 30% in the past year, adding to food-access issues.
“More than 80% of an individual’s health is determined outside of the health care system,” Tenenbaum said. “Overall health is determined by things like food insecurity, availability of health providers and housing.”
That’s where many of the organizational partners are helping out.
Barbara Bronstein, who founded Second Servings of Houston in 2015, started creating pop-up grocery stores about six months ago.
“The beauty part of the pop-up grocery store is it serves people with dignity,” Bronstein told the JHV. “It gives people the opportunity to try new things, risk free. We aren’t just handing them a box or bag of food. They get to select from fresh food that they love or that they’ve never tried.
“I had a 70-year-old who just told us, ‘I’ve never had lamb in my life and the lamb chops I got at the last pop-up were my absolute favorite.’
“Another woman at another site said, ‘I love asparagus, but it is always so expensive, but here I got some.’
“We hope that they might come away with healthier eating habits if they understand they like something like ground turkey or yogurt for the first time.”
Working alongside the recipients will be dietitians and nutritionists from many of the synagogues, as well as from UT Health.
Shreela Sharma is a professor of Epidemiology at The University of Texas School of Public Health and the co-founder – with H-E-B director of Public Affairs Lisa Helfman – of the nonprofit Brighter Bites.
Sharma’s focus has been on food insecurity in low-income families and children, and she and her team will be at the pop-ups both to help and do research.
“While it is nice to have feel-good programs, we really want to know if they are impactful and will help in alleviating these stressors of food insecurity,” Sharma told the JHV.
“Just because you give someone fresh produce, doesn’t mean they are going to know how to use it. There can be intimidations with produce, especially with vegetables. We teach them how to cook it, how to store it and how to stretch your leftovers.
“Financially, it’s about giving families a little bit of breathing room and not constantly being in that survival mode. This can be game-changing over time and what better way to show that we care.”
Benefiting from the program will be recently housed people, who previously were battling homelessness in Houston.
Mike Nichols, a member of Beth Israel, is CEO of Coalition for the Homeless Houston in Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend Counties.
Through the Coalition’s ‘The Way Home’ program, Nichols is working to identify apartment communities that house formerly homeless families and individuals that can benefit.
Since 2012, the program has housed more than 25,000 people with an 85% success rate – meaning they stay in these units and improve their health, mental health and income opportunities, according to Nichols.
The extra benefit of healthy food availability will be an added boost.
“We are really excited about this program, as it really helps fill a need for these people after they move in,” Nichols told the JHV.
“This is a great idea to give tzedakah and do some tikkun olam on homelessness. This will be a real asset to these communities.”
For Tenenbaum, who retired as a human resource consultant at the end of 2020, the initiative is filling a much-needed niche in the community.
He said if everything goes well, he plans to reach out to churches and mosques and really make it an interfaith initiative. For now, it is a great opportunity for the Jewish community to come together around the High Holy Days.
“As a Jewish community, this is the highest form of tzedakah we can give,” Tenenbaum said.
“By providing these nutritional opportunities in a hands-on manner, we can work toward making everyone self-sufficient. I’m really looking forward to the results.”
To volunteer with the Food & Faith Collaborative, email [email protected].
This year, Congregation Emanu El member Philip Tenenbaum is taking the mitzvah to the next level with a special collaborative program.
The Food & Faith Collaborative will be a hands-on initiative, bringing together four Houston synagogues and several community partners to help enable food security and nutritional self-sufficiency.
Congregations Emanu El, Beth Israel, Beth Yeshurun and Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism will work with Second Servings of Houston, Houston Coalition for the Homeless and UT Health to form free monthly pop-up grocery stores at a Houston apartment complex.
Volunteers from the synagogues will work with recipients on nutritional plans, provide meal preparation coaching and help build healthy-eating patterns to sustain Houston’s underprivileged.
“We want to help long term with food security and enable self-sufficiency in our community,” Tenenbaum told the JHV. “Collecting food once a year is great, but we want to take this beyond a one-day canned food drive on Yom Kippur.”
“This is a social action project that congregations will do together, and showing that kind of partnership is a win for everyone, especially the beneficiaries who really need it.
“To give someone who is hungry food is so meaningful. There could be nothing better during this time of year than looking someone in the eye knowing we made their day better.”
The plan is to launch the program officially in the second half of October or early November and go monthly after that.
Emanu El Senior Rabbi Oren Hayon has worked with Tenenbaum from the start and will join his fellow senior rabbis in promoting the initiative from the bimah this High Holy Days.
“This is a perfect example of what tzedakah looks like in the real world, and I feel so proud to be a part of it,” Rabbi Hayon told the JHV.
“It has been inspiring to watch Philip use his professional and volunteer expertise to create this new entrepreneurial venture to address hunger in our community.
“It is very special that he has conceived a project that’s guided by Jewish charitable priorities: aiming at lifelong self-sufficiency, in addition to the temporary relief of hunger.”
 |
Congregations Emanu El, Beth Israel, Beth Yeshurun and Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism will work with Second Servings of Houston, Houston Coalition for the Homeless and UT Health to form free monthly pop-up grocery stores at a Houston apartment complex. |
According to the Food & Faith Collaborative, more than 16% of Houstonians are food insecure and have limited or uncertain access to enough food, especially healthy options.
Demand at the Houston Food Bank soared 30% in the past year, adding to food-access issues.
“More than 80% of an individual’s health is determined outside of the health care system,” Tenenbaum said. “Overall health is determined by things like food insecurity, availability of health providers and housing.”
That’s where many of the organizational partners are helping out.
Barbara Bronstein, who founded Second Servings of Houston in 2015, started creating pop-up grocery stores about six months ago.
“The beauty part of the pop-up grocery store is it serves people with dignity,” Bronstein told the JHV. “It gives people the opportunity to try new things, risk free. We aren’t just handing them a box or bag of food. They get to select from fresh food that they love or that they’ve never tried.
“I had a 70-year-old who just told us, ‘I’ve never had lamb in my life and the lamb chops I got at the last pop-up were my absolute favorite.’
“Another woman at another site said, ‘I love asparagus, but it is always so expensive, but here I got some.’
“We hope that they might come away with healthier eating habits if they understand they like something like ground turkey or yogurt for the first time.”
Working alongside the recipients will be dietitians and nutritionists from many of the synagogues, as well as from UT Health.
Shreela Sharma is a professor of Epidemiology at The University of Texas School of Public Health and the co-founder – with H-E-B director of Public Affairs Lisa Helfman – of the nonprofit Brighter Bites.
Sharma’s focus has been on food insecurity in low-income families and children, and she and her team will be at the pop-ups both to help and do research.
“While it is nice to have feel-good programs, we really want to know if they are impactful and will help in alleviating these stressors of food insecurity,” Sharma told the JHV.
“Just because you give someone fresh produce, doesn’t mean they are going to know how to use it. There can be intimidations with produce, especially with vegetables. We teach them how to cook it, how to store it and how to stretch your leftovers.
“Financially, it’s about giving families a little bit of breathing room and not constantly being in that survival mode. This can be game-changing over time and what better way to show that we care.”
Benefiting from the program will be recently housed people, who previously were battling homelessness in Houston.
Mike Nichols, a member of Beth Israel, is CEO of Coalition for the Homeless Houston in Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend Counties.
Through the Coalition’s ‘The Way Home’ program, Nichols is working to identify apartment communities that house formerly homeless families and individuals that can benefit.
Since 2012, the program has housed more than 25,000 people with an 85% success rate – meaning they stay in these units and improve their health, mental health and income opportunities, according to Nichols.
The extra benefit of healthy food availability will be an added boost.
“We are really excited about this program, as it really helps fill a need for these people after they move in,” Nichols told the JHV.
“This is a great idea to give tzedakah and do some tikkun olam on homelessness. This will be a real asset to these communities.”
For Tenenbaum, who retired as a human resource consultant at the end of 2020, the initiative is filling a much-needed niche in the community.
He said if everything goes well, he plans to reach out to churches and mosques and really make it an interfaith initiative. For now, it is a great opportunity for the Jewish community to come together around the High Holy Days.
“As a Jewish community, this is the highest form of tzedakah we can give,” Tenenbaum said.
“By providing these nutritional opportunities in a hands-on manner, we can work toward making everyone self-sufficient. I’m really looking forward to the results.”
To volunteer with the Food & Faith Collaborative, email [email protected].
 |
Philip Tenenbaum, Second Servings of Houston CEO Barbara Bronstein and Congregation Emanu El Rabbi Oren Hayon help load food on a Second Servings van. |