Hag Sameach Program helps those in need during Passover and Chanukah
By Joanne Savitt
“Thank you for brightening our Chanukah this year with your wonderful gifts. We hope to help with this great project in the future when we get back on our feet.”
A client in the Hag Sameach Program
Hag Sameach means happy holiday. Since 1993, Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis has provided customized bags of gifts and ritual items to individuals and families in need during Chanukah and Passover through our Hag Sameach Program.
When the program started, JFCS assisted 40 families. In 2008, Hag Sameach served approximately 1,000 people with the help of 300 volunteers, the most ever in the program’s history.
Recipients are thankful for the support they receive during the holidays. “Thank you so much for the wonderful Passover gift package. Everything was perfect,” wrote one client. “Without your help our family would not have been able to celebrate the holiday. We greatly appreciate your kindness.”
“I’m so excited about these gifts,” said an older adult client. “Thank you! No one has given me a gift since my husband died 15 years ago.”
The program also sends out Jewish New Year cards and a Jewish holiday calendar to all JFCS clients referred to the program at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
For Passover and Chanukah, Hag Sameach recipients must be referred by a JFCS case manager, synagogue or agency, rabbi, Jewish school or other professional. All recipients are treated with confidentiality and names are never used, even with volunteers.
New, unwrapped gifts and monetary contributions for Hag Sameach are accepted throughout the year at JFCS. There is always a significant need for gifts for older adults and teens. Before Chanukah, collection boxes are located at synagogues, preschools and the Sabes JCC where the community provides us great support.
“Adopt A Family for Passover” is a mitzvah opportunity in which donors make a chai ($18) donation per family to JFCS to contribute to the cost of food and ritual objects during Passover.
Volunteers fill gift bags with Passover foods including matzo, matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, macaroons, grape juice, candy and a pair of candles and deliver them to clients.
The Hag Sameach Program is volunteer-driven and offers many opportunities such as shopping, sorting and organizing gifts, making gift baskets, decorating bags, picking out gifts for clients from the storeroom and delivering gifts. Many people love to volunteer for Hag Sameach and return year after year to participate in this heartwarming mitzvah. Everyone working together creates a wonderful camaraderie!
Local organizations assist with Hag Sameach, too. BOND, Branching out in New Directions, has helped with Hag Sameach as its community social service project since the program began. Last year 40 volunteers became involved.
In addition to all the beautiful and heartwarming thank you notes the Hag Sameach Program has received, one response was particularly moving. Tears came to my eyes when I received a phone message from a large family where each of the children got on the line and said “thank you.”
To donate to Hag Sameach online go to the JFCS website, www.jfcsmpls.org and click on Donate Now.
For more information about Hag Sameach, contact Joanne Savitt at 952-542-4870 or jsavitt@jfcsmpls.org.
* * *
Joanne Savitt is Hag Sameach Coordinator at Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis.
Proudly meets or exceeds all standards.
