Hopefully you are enjoying a lovely, safe summer and staying cool! Things are a bit quiet but that does not mean that Temple Shalom Congregants are not hard at work making a difference regarding our important action issues. A group of dedicated volunteers continue to stock the Freedge, now moving to a bi-monthly schedule. Welcome to Nate Powell who will be co-chairing this effort with Erin Borras. Under the direction of our new post-carding co-chairs, Susan Goodman and Wendy Case, our postcarding team have been busy writing and addressing postcards to increase voting participation. Gardeners are tending the Temple Shalom Garden and sharing the harvest with Freedge shoppers. Members who have become involved in JALSA are taking action to protect abortion rights. Summer may be quiet, but the Temple Shalom Tzedek Committee is not!
Best wishes, Marion Pollock Tzedek Newsletter Editor
JASLA The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action is devoted to engaging the community in promoting civil rights, protecting civil liberties and achieving social, economic, environmental, and racial justice. Want to get involved in JALSA? Receive action alerts?https://www.jalsa.org/take-action
RECYLING CLOTHING AND TEXTILES MADE EASY
Have you noticed the blue clothing/textile collection bins in front of some of our elementary schools? Newton Public Schools placed the bins to help make donating, reusing and recycling unwanted clothing, shoes, linens and textiles easy and convenient. We are being proactive because in three months, on Nov. 1, textiles in Massachusetts can no longer be disposed of in trash and in our blue bins.
Newton Public Schools (NPS) is partnering with Helpsy to collect whatever we can wear, sleep in, or dry ourselves off with. This includes anything made from wool, silk, linen, cotton, polyester, leather, vinyl, hemp and rayon. Find a full list of accepted items here. So far, bins have been located at 12 schools, and four to five more are in the works. Newton joins 110 other communities across Massachusetts that collect textiles at schools.
Newton DPW also works with Helpsy to offer on-demandcurbside pickup of textiles . (Click here to schedule a home pick-up.) We also have Helpsy, Salvation Army, and American Red Cross drop-off collection bins for textiles at our Resource Recovery Center at 115 Rumford Avenue. Find answers to frequently asked questions here.
AUGUST 1-18: SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE
Newton Neighbors is collaborating with the Street at Chestnut Hill and the Village Bank to collect school supplies for children in Newton and neighboring towns. Drop off your donations at any Village Bank location in Newton.Our goal is to collect school supplies for 200 children. Donations will be distributed in time for the first day of school. We would appreciate donations of:
good-quality new or gently used backpacks (backpacks for middle and high school students are the most needed). Please do not donate backpacks with monogrammed names or initials or company-specific logos.
good-quality new or gently used lunchboxes. Please do not donate lunchboxes with monogrammed names or initials or company-specific logos.
water bottles
new or used graphing calculators
notebooks (composition, spiral, and graphing)
pens and pencils
$25 gift cards to Star Market or Target for purchase of school supplies.
