Social Action Committee

Help Mitigate Hunger in Our Area! Led by our Social Action Committee, CAI is in our second year participating in First Presbyterian Church's crucial program where community members prepare meals each week for the soup kitchen at Our Lady of the Valley in Orange, NJ. Make an impact in the lives of our neighbors — please consider preparing a dish; recipes are provided and aluminum pans can be picked up from the office. Drop off is only on Wednesdays in the First Pres. staff parking lot on Westville Ave. from 4:00-5:00 pm.

Click Here for more information and to sign up. If you have questions, please be in touch with committee chair Karen Eisenberg.

(Note: Because this is a partnership with First Pres, instructions don't assume a kosher kitchen, but please volunteer for meals you can prepare in your own kitchen).

Each year, I feel so proud and grateful that the CAI Social Action Committee participates in the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Essex County, because it's the right thing to do. It enables us all to not just "talk the talk" but to "walk the walk".  I think of our guests as a wonderful variety of distinct individuals, each with their own characteristics, stories, skill sets and struggles - just like we all have. I always find it curious that I sign up with a sincere desire to help those less fortunate and to make it possible for CAI and all of us to do this important work, but always I find that it is I who is uplifted and transformed. There is always at least one person or family who has touched me so deeply that the world will never be the same.

—Anne Luria Burg, Member of CAI

“Tikkun Olam”, the Jewish imperative to “repair the world”, is at heart of CAI's Social Action Committee. Each participant contributes a little of his/her time and compassion, and together we make a difference in others people's lives. I am proud to be a part of CAI's hosting of 3 to 4 displaced families every summer and participate in providing assistance to the asylum seekers. As these people are trying to cope with the stress of losing their homes, they find a warm welcome when they come to CAI and can take some comfort in knowing someone cares. The same can be said for the two political asylees the Social Action Committee has supported. Small gestures; like driving them to the DMV or inviting them to dinner takes an effort on my part but I know it is helping the political asylees make a new life in the U.S and conveys the important message they are not alone”

—Amy Dell, Member of CAI

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