Chesed is a team of CBI members who respond to various situations in which other CBI
members might need assistance. Although we’re just half way through November, I thought
you might be interested in hearing about what Chesed has been doing during 2024.
Our largest response this year has been sending cards to express sympathy, offer get well
wishes, and extend congratulations for varying occasions. We’ve sent out 47 cards in 44 weeks.
We’ve also been busy making telephone calls. Seventeen people were called throughout the
year for various reasons, mostly to check in with people who were dealing with medical
situations. But in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, a team of four CBI members contacted
either directly or indirectly (by speaking to someone who had spoken to someone else) every
single CBI member to check in and see how they were doing. We were able to identify several
individuals who needed some type of assistance. It took a while to reach everyone because cell
phone and internet service were so challenging. But we kept working on it until every name had
been moved from our “Not contacted yet” list to our “Safe” list.
We’ve also continued to provide meals for people after an illness, the birth of a baby, or for
families during shivah. We’ve had eight requests for meals this year. Each request involved
multiple people providing food for several days. We’re very good at accommodating dietary
preferences.
In three instances, we helped arrange for people to attend shivah minyans. And we visited
several people who were homebound. We were able to respond to six requests for rides to
medical appointments, but we had several requests to which we could not respond.
In case you’re interested in helping, here’s how the system works. You would let me know
which requests you are interested in responding to. They are making meals, delivering meals,
making calls, visiting, helping to ensure a minyan, and providing rides to CBI programs and/or
medical appointments. When a request comes in, I will send that request to the group of
people who have asked to be alerted for that assistance. If it’s a convenient time for you to
respond, you would let me know. No one is expected to be available to help with every
response.
Of course, this whole approach doesn’t work if we don’t know who needs some assistance. It’s
much easier for most people to offer help than to ask for it. But we will all find ourselves in
situations when a ride, a meal, a visit, or a call would be welcome. You can contact Lee, the
Rabbi, or Rochelle to alert them about what you need and they will contact me. Or you can
contact me directly. One of the silver linings of the hurricane was experiencing how people
banded together to help other people. Your CBI community is here to help you. All you have to
do is let us know what you need.
Caren Kessler