BI-CULTURAL HEBREW ACADEMY

Chesed Initiatives

At BCHA, we instill the value of chesed and doing for others from a very young age. We proactively offer our students a variety of chesed opportunities throughout the year.  In cooperation with our area United Jewish Federation’s PJ Library program, our youngest students participated in the “cups of love” event to create care packages and make cards for local firefighters to show their gratitude.  As students get older, chesed opportunities abound as we partner with a variety of local organizations in order to help them fulfill their missions.  Students have visited the Schoke JFS food pantry to prepare Passover packages for clients, helped move medical supplies from Wheel it Forward to distribution centers, and written letters to the US Armed Forces through the Major Stuart Adam Wolfer Institute.  As members of our larger kahal, Seniors at the Atria Senior Living Community look forward to coming together with BCHA students for a Shabbat party, where our youngest students sing songs and engage with seniors to brighten their day. For Friendship Circle’s Friendship Day, which included an activities fair, several of BCHA’s teens volunteered to run the booths.  This past Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we ran a highly successful day of service for families that included opportunities across our local institutions, including local libraries, the Red Cross, and many other Stamford/Greenwich organizations.  Thanks to Areyvut, we were able to distribute individual Chesed boxes (with crafts and other projects) for students to take action and do chesed on their own. To eliminate food waste, and teach the mitzvah of ba’al tashchit, we worked with Food Rescue US to ensure that school lunch leftovers went to those in need.  And when war broke out in Ukraine, 5th graders,  along with fellow community members collected and packed five duffel bags full of medical supplies to be distributed at the border as part of our local United Jewish Federation Mission to Ukraine.  

Additionally, many students choose to participate in a meaningful chesed project as part of becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah.  We work with those students and their families to pair them with chesed opportunities that are individualized to their passions and interests.  It is our hope that by providing these growing chesed initiatives, BCHA students will forever integrate chesed into their daily lives for years to come both inside and outside of school hallways.