Helping hands in Long Beach

Making Pesach is expensive, and for those who struggle to put food on the table on a regular day, the eight days of Passover can cause a true hardship. 

About 5 years ago, Lisa Gaon of the Sephardic Congregation of Long Beach took it upon herself to lessen this hardship. She works closely with the Young Israel and the Bach and creates a list of people in the community who could benefit from some discrete help. She collects donations of cases of meats and fish and poultry and canned and jarred goods and she schleps with a truck to pick everything up and bring it back to the Sephardic Shul where her loyal helpers come from Westchester, Manhattan and of course Long Beach to put together the packages.

This year, some of the regulars were unable to help, so Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman sent six boys from Rambam Mesivta to help. Their youth and energy and strong backs were greatly appreciated.

Special thanks to Yoni Auerbach, Benjamin Austin, Adam Cohen, Michael Csillag, Akiva Gelbart, Yosef Kuperman for all their help and to Trader Joe’s of Oceanside for their generous donation of recyclable bags used for packing.