Suburban families help community celebrate Jewish New Year

As residents around the suburbs prepare to celebrate the Jewish New Year, which begins at sundown today, nearly 12,000 Chicago-area Jews struggling financially will be able to have a traditional Rosh Hashana meal because of Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago.

The nonprofit organization has been helping donate food to Jewish residents in Chicago and the suburbs for more than 100 years. The name comes from the practice of donating matzo and other food during the Passover holiday, the organization’s original mission.

In 2003, organizers saw a need during Rosh Hashana, which is one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar, said Peter Hru, who has been volunteering with Maot Chitim for more than a decade.

On Sunday, Maot Chitim used hundreds of volunteers to deliver boxes to more than 4,000 families with enough food to feed 12,000 people for Rosh Hashana. The food was stored and packed at an empty warehouse in Niles.

“All the way around, it’s a good thing for the Jewish community,” Hru said. “It brings people together from Orthodox to almost secular all doing a good deed.”

Some volunteers brought the whole family to Niles to help, including Larry Miller of Kildeer, who has 18 children, many of whom are adopted. Miller said its important to teach his children to care for others, especially during the holiday season. One of Miller’s daughters, Maggie, 16, said the family has been coming to help Maot Chitim for as long as she can remember.

“We’re always here to serve God’s people,” Maggie said.

Members of the only all-Jewish Boy Scout troop in the Northwest Illinois Council, Troop 62 of Northbrook, also came out to help.

“The holidays are a part of what’s held the Jewish community together for so many years,” said Robert Rubinberg, scoutmaster of Troop 62. “This is our way of helping our community.”

Rubinberg’s son, Benjamin, 12, said he didn’t mind waking up early to help.

“I like being able to help people,” Benjamin said. “They are so thankful.”

Boxes are filled with challah, honey cake, noodles, kasha, Shabbat and yahrzeit candles, tea, matzo ball soup mix, wine, frozen chickens, eggs, apples and many other traditional holiday foods, said Executive Director Audrey Schiff. Recipients also get pamphlets in Russian and English explaining holiday rituals and prayers.

People in need come to the organization through referrals from social service agencies or local rabbis or by word-of-mouth.

The group does not receive any federal grants because it is religious-based, but it partners with individual donors and the First Bank of Highland Park. From the warehouse to the equipment, everything but the food is donated, and with only one paid employee, the entire organization is run by volunteers, Hru said.

In the week leading up to delivery day, students helped assemble the boxes and pack nonperishable food.

Starting at 5:30 a.m. Sunday, volunteers started to set up the conveyor belt, pack perishable food and load boxes into trucks and cars. More than 400 families from the Chicago area helped deliver the boxes and spent time with the recipients.

When volunteers deliver the boxes, they don’t just drop them off and leave, they stay to make a personal connection with the recipients, many of whom are elderly.

“Some of these people are so starved for a warm friendly face, so to see a family when they don’t have anybody is really great,” Schiff said.

David Bier, who has been a board member with Maot Chitim for more than 20 years, agreed. “We hope it helps everyone to celebrate the holidays with dignity,” he said.

As the economy continues to be a problem, Schiff said she has seen her numbers in need increase and has had several people who used to be donors now become recipients. Schiff said she got a thank-you letter from a woman who eats meat only twice a year, when she gets her Maot Chitim deliveries for Rosh Hashana and Passover, because otherwise she can’t afford it.

“It makes it all worthwhile to know I had a hand in helping these people,” Schiff said. “Because but for the grace of God, it could be us.”