What an incredible event yesterday at the Interfaith Food Pantry. Eighty volunteers from all participating congregations - Christ Church, TSTI, Beth El and B'nai Jeshrun - as well as students from Pingry and Newark Academy grads joined together for a holiday distribution. Breakfast was served to over 150 needy individuals and families from Orange and East Orange and then the distribution began. Volunteers

Chanukah Tikkun Olam Eight nights of Chanukah too often equates with eight nights of presents. Why not set aside at least one night of Chanukah for your family to jointly do an act of kindness towards others? Here are a dozen family-friendly suggestions to get you started. 1. Give thanks for the Chanukah dinner you eat. Then go grocery shopping (or raid your pantry) and donate canned goods so others

As the news is filled with heartbreaking stories about the continued need for food assistance in NJ, our congregation recently participated in two major efforts to help our neighbors. On Saturday, Nov 19, we were the local site for the 13th year for the Annual Thanksgiving Food and Turkey Drive for the Community FoodBank of NJ. We collected 108 turkeys, enough to provide dinners for 1620 people, as

More than 16 million kids in America struggle with hunger. You can help when you dine out at restaurants across the country who participate in Share our Strength's Dine Out: No Kid Hungry from Sept. 18 - 24. Local participating chains include IHOP, Cinnabon and Boston Market, and local restaurants include Highland Place in Maplewood, Legal SeaFoods at MASH, and Highlawn Pavilion and the Manor in West

Our efforts for the Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges continue. Our congregation is responsible for staffing the distribution (which includes bagging bread and groceries), and with supporting the provision of food for distribution, on the fourth ednesday of every month. We are faced with an increasing number of families who come because they need supplemental food assistance. We are so concerned

TSTI volunteers helped to build a house in Irvington today, putting up wallboard on walls and ceiling. Thank you to our hard-working volunteers: Kenn, Robyn and Greg Ehrlich, Marcia and Matt Michaels, Carol Paster, Carol Schiffman, Josh Stoller and Dennis Percher. By the way, Habitat is always in need of financial contributions. If you would like to help, send your check to:Habitat for Humanity

A landmark study of Hunger in NJ from Feeding America shows that 12.7% of NJ's population suffers from food insecurity (defined by the USDA as a lack of access at times to enough food for an active healthy lifestyle for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods). An astounding 49% of these individuals do not qualify for SNAP (Food Stamps) and must rely

Did you know that five members of TSTI are working with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, mostly paired with students at the South 17th Street School? Rachel Rothman has requested a second “little” for next year, and she (and her daughters) hope that they can “upgrade” the relationship with her current "little" next year to community based. TSTI'S involvement with Big Brothers/Big Sisters is part

On May 6, volunteers at the Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges - including our own Janet Schwamm and Cyndy Wyatt, participated in the 8th Annual Essex County Walk to Fight Hunger. Read more about the walk here: http://southorange.patch.com/articles/about-town-residents-walked-to-fight-hunger#photo-6069435

TSTI members were out in force on the social action front this week. Ten of our members helped ensured that the week was a little easier for 60 clients of the Interfaith Food Pantry. Those clients first wait for referrals from social service agencies to the Pantry, and then wait again as we sort groceries, bag donated bread, cake and sweet treats, and set up and distribute bags of canned goods that