Tikkun Olam
SAVE THE DATE: Mitzvah Day is Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 9:30 AM!
ABOUT TIKKUN OLAM:
We are working every day to make our world a better place. Interested in joining us or have any questions? Contact Monika Singletary at monika@ourtemple.org.
One of Temple Emanu-El’s core values is to make a difference in our Birmingham community. These actions take place on both personal and institutional levels. To name a few:
- Four times a year, Temple classrooms are converted to bedrooms to welcome homeless families for a week of housing, meals, and activities through Family Promise of Birmingham. Congregants are actively involved, providing time, money, and meals. Temple volunteers serve food and stay overnight with our guests.
- During Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, congregants volunteer to prepare and serve meals to the homeless at Grace Episcopal Church, through the Community Kitchens Project.
- Each Spring on ‘Mitzvah Day’, over 100 Temple volunteers join together engaging in Tikkun Olam by doing service projects for 6-8 community programs. This past year included: community clean-up for Grace Klein Community, Glen Iris Elementary School, and Elmwood Cemetery; creating special gifts for Children’s of Alabama and UAB Oncology; sorting and creating packages for the homeless from the Temple Emanu-El Clothing Closet.
- Our High Holy Day Food Drive provides truckloads of non-perishable food to 5 local food banks.
- Our High Holy Day Giving Campaign raises funds that are distributed to 3 local agencies supporting the less fortunate in our community.
- During our Chanukah Toy Drive, known as ‘Feeling Gelty’, we collect donated gifts for those in underserved communities to come and select items for their families. We have been serving approximately 200 children through this highly successful annual project.
- A giant tzedakah box, designed in the shape of our synagogue, stands proudly in our Temple with donations being distributed to a different local organization each month.
Our Partner Organizations
- Family Promise
Temple Liason ~ David Reese - First Light
Temple Liason ~ Amber Cosby
- Greater Birmingham Ministries
Temple Liason ~ Kaydee Breman-Erdrich and Richard Goldstein