Chazaq, along with Chickens for Shabbos, organized and executed seven distributions at Congregation Ner Mordechai this year for m’lamdim, g’rushos, and agunos.
There was an atmosphere of excitement and gratitude at each of these beautiful events. Everyone was treated with extreme kavod, and there was the joy of giving and receiving permeating the air.
A distribution of household items, school supplies, clothing, baby supplies, cosmetics, and more took place in October, November, December, February, March, May, and June. Over 1,550 people participated and benefited from these distributions. In earlier articles, we elaborated on how each distribution focused on a different group. From 47 different yeshivos, there were 92 unique kollel families, 284 moros, 131 rebbeim, 107 single parents, and 69 m’chanchim (teachers and tutors who work in Chazaq, Emet and the like) who attended the distributions.
M’lamdim came away with a sense of the appreciation and knowledge of the esteem our community feels towards them and their families, as they sacrifice material benefits to give our community and our children and the future of klal Yisrael so much spiritually.
Easing the financial burden for our rebbeim and moros enables them to teach with more peace of mind, and this has a ripple effect on their students. In the latest distribution, in June, there was a large variety of clothing, toys, sports balls, makeup, cosmetics, creams, dental supplies, baby products, bedding, shoes, electronics, cleaning supplies, and bug zappers provided to each person valued at over $650 total. With an estimate that each rebbe and morah has on average 20 students whom they teach in their classes, more than 8,000 students were affected by the distributions, and that number is excluding the rebbeim’s and moros’ own families as well as the families of the kollel, single parents, and other m’chanchim (suchs as those from Chazaq, Emet, and the like) who also benefited from the distributions.
As you can see from these numbers, the monthly distributions that Chazaq has been making in conjunction with Chickens for Shabbos are having a huge impact on the families in the community. They would not have been possible without the help of Chazaq, Chickens for Shabbos, and the distribution’s Founding supporters Mr. & Mrs. Joel Shafran, Mr. & Mrs. Eli Glaser, Mr. & Mrs. Yitzy Laub, Mr. & Mrs. Yossi Hoch, Mr. & Mrs. Coby Elias, and Mr. & Mrs. Yisroel Blumenfrucht.
The organizers wish to express hakaras ha’tov to Hashem for expanding this tz’dakah to include m’lamdim and moros. Chickens for Shabbos is an organization specializing in helping families of agunos, g’rushos, and m’lamdim. It helps 300 families of m’lamdim and 110 families of agunos and g’rushos. It privately tutors 222 children of agunos and g’rushos, including both boys and girls. This translates into thousands of neshamos that are begging for help. This tz’dakah operates at zero overhead. There are no words to express its gratitude for the community’s support. These neshamos that you help will be advocates for you. Robby Neuman asks, “Please help ChickensforShabbos.com. The one goal of this tz’dakah is to take away the pain of poverty and replace it with great memories.”
What a z’chus it would be for all of us if you would help us in this endeavor by donating to ChickensforShabbos.com, which will now be l’zeicher nishmas Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld zt”l, who was the founding partner of Chickens for Shabbos, the charity that operates with zero overhead.
By Susie Garber
