Social Action

OT's Social Action program is committed to tikkun olam (repairing the world) and projects are done throughout the year to benefit our community.

On This Page:

Social Action In the Community | December Projects | Good Deeds Week | Special Projects | Delivery of Passover Baskets |  Ongoing Initiatives | Combat Racism & Interfaith

December Outreach Projects

In this season of thanksgiving, we are thankful for all we have and look for ways to give back to our community. Join us in participating in our many Social Action projects throughout the season to bring joy to others.

Donations for the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter, donate by Monday, December 23. Help us support the residents of the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter this winter by donating any of the following items: NEW stuffed animals; NEW socks for men, women and children (regular or warm and fuzzy); and/or $25 gift cards to grocery stores or Target/Walmart. Donations may be left in the main lobby.

Katherine Hanley Christmas Brunch, prepare food before Monday, December 25. For the 17th year, Olam Tikvah will provide a warm, homemade Christmas breakfast for the families staying at the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter on Christmas morning! Please sign up directly on this link if you would like to help by preparing quiches, casseroles or other homemade goods at your home beforehand, or contact Mimi Krauss.

Christmas Shoeboxes for So Others Might Eat (SOME). Help provide Christmas gifts to the homeless by packing a shoebox with necessities to donate to SOME. Click here for a full list of shoebox items.

Christmas Gifts for the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter. Donate small stuffed animals for children and gloves and socks for adults at the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter. Donations can be left during the month of December in the collection box in the main lobby. To learn more, contact Mimi Krauss.

Christmas Eve Shelter. Each year, an area church opens its doors to the homeless on Christmas Eve and our Social Action Committee provides volunteers for the evening. In 2019, the shelter will be at Messiah United Methodist Church, 6215 Rolling Rd. Volunteers are needed for the overnight and early morning shifts. To volunteer, contact Clare Bachner.

Christmas Breakfast at the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter. Prepare food for Christmas breakfast at the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter. Volunteers are needed to make quiche and other breakfast foods in advance, and to make pancakes and serve residents at the breakfast. To volunteer, contact Mimi Krauss.

Special Projects

Please contact Social Action Chair Clare Bachner to confirm which projects are currently operating.

Blood Drives. Each winter and spring, we sponsor an INOVA blood drive to help the community. Please take part in this wonderful mitzvah at our synagogue and help support the constant need for blood donations. Requirements: Weigh 110 lbs, be in good health, be 17 years of age (16 with parental consent form completed), be at least 56 days since your last whole blood donation. Olam Tikvah's sponsor code is 3124. You can give at select INOVA blood donation centers. To learn more, contact Lori Zobler.

Food For Others/Power Pack Program (P3). Food For Others is a local non-profit food bank and food rescue operation serving Fairfax and Arlington Counties. The Power Pack Program provides elementary school students experiencing food insecurity in our area with a pack of food that they can eat at home over the weekend. To support this effort throughout the year, please drop off any of the following items in the donation bench in the main lobby:

• Mac & Cheese cups,
• Tuna/Chicken Salad kits with crackers,
• Pasta cups,
• Chef Boyardee microwave cups, etc.,
• 100% Fruit juice boxes or Capri Sun juice pouches,
• Shelf stable milk
• Please: no glass containers

To make a monetary contribution to the Power Pack Program to help us buy items to complete each pack, contact the OT office or send a check to Olam Tikvah with Power Pack in the memo line. Power packs packaging will take place on January 26th 2025, 2:00pm-4:00pm in the Social Hall. 

Chanukah Outreach. We have special Chanukah celebrations at the Brown/Berish Group Home. To volunteer, contact Clare Bachner.

Hypothermia Project. For the past several years, local churches in Fairfax County under the direction of F.A.C.E.T.S. (Fairfax Assistance Community Emergency Transit Services) take turns housing people who are homeless in their church for a week. They provide overnight shelter and meals throughout the winter season from November to mid-March. Olam Tikvah and the Pozez JCC are once again partnering with Bethlehem Lutheran Church (8822 Little River Turnpike, Fairfax) to support FACETS' Hypothermia Prevention Program. BLC will house guests in need of shelter and food the week of January 12-19, 2025. We have many opportunities for volunteers to help prior and during that week. Volunteers are needed to: donate McDonald's gift cards ($10) for lunch on Sunday, January 19 when guests depart; donate gas cards to guests with cars; purchase needed non-perishable items from our Amazon Wish List; set up the church Social Hall & Kitchen; prepare food at home for dinners, serve guests breakfast and dinners; make sandwiches for to-go lunches; play Bingo with guests; and more! Please sign up for one or more volunteer opportunities.

Reel Abilities 2025 Screening of Rally Caps Sunday, February 9, 10:00am - 12:00pm. Rally Caps is an independent coming-of-age story based on true events, and adapted from the book by father-daughter writing team of Stephen J. Cutler and Jodi Michelle Cutler. It focuses on a young boy named Jordy who overcomes a serious injury he experiences during a youth baseball tryout. Jordy goes to summer camp and he is inspired to come back to the mound when he forms a friendship with a deaf boy named Lucas. Lucas plays catcher and is facing his own crises of just having Cochlear Implant surgery. Together, they form a special bond as friends and pitcher/catcher duo, and lead their team in the camp championship game. The screening will be followed by a discussion. Sign up here.

Valentine's Day Party. OT congregants provide an activity-filled party for the children residing at the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter. To volunteer, contact Mimi Krauss.

Delivery of  Passover Food to Holocaust Survivors We are partnering with JSSA to deliver Rosh Hashanah and Passover baskets to Holocaust survivors in Northern Virginia. If you can help with this mitzvah, please contact Social Action member, Judy Gabel or Leslie Goldberg. Volunteers are needed to deliver bags of non-perishable items to Holocaust survivors in the Northern Virginia area.The survivors are not from concentration camps, but are from Russia and Ukraine, and had difficulty entering the safety of the U.S. after World Ward II. JSSA continues to help these aging immigrants and let them know, most importantly, that they are not forgotten on this lovely holiday. Each bag includes things like matzo, wine, matzo meal, and a few other items that will fit in one grocery bag for each recipient. Delivery day is on April 6th.  On that day, you’d need to drive up to the front of O.T. between 10 and 11 a.m., get the names and addresses of your recipients, one bag per recipient,  and head out for delivery to be completed by 1 p.m.  

Chametz Food Drive. Each year before Passover, OT congregants donate their unopened chametz to Food For Others, our local food bank that is always in need of donated food boxes and cans.

Good Deeds Day. Each year at Congregation Olam Tikvah, our congregants and volunteers from Social Action, Men’s Club, Sisterhood, Religious School, Preschool, and youth groups participate in the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's Sara & Samuel J. Lessans Good Deeds Day. We work on projects that help those in need in our community. In the past our projects included Sisterhood knitting for the Linus Project, making tuna casseroles for S.O.M.E., Men’s Club distribution of Yom HaShoah candles, Social Action making sandwiches for Bailey’s Crossroads Homeless Shelter, providing brunch for the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter, the preschool providing diapers for babies at Katherine Hanley Family Shelter, and the Religious School making get well cards for children at Fairfax Hospital. Click here to learn more about last year's projects.

Gleaning at Farmers' Markets. On Sundays from May-October, OT volunteers glean food from the various Farmers’ Markets and then transport fresh vegetables and fruits to the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter, Bailey’s Shelter, Food For Others, and other places where people are given fresh fruits and vegetables that they would not otherwise be able to have. Click here to read about OT's gleaning program in the Washington Jewish Week. For more information or to volunteer, contact Marc Berman.

Combating Racism

Our society needs tikkun olam right now. Help us take steps toward repairing the world by joining our Social Action Sub-Committee on Racism. We share resources with one another with the goal of better understanding the difficult topic of race for ourselves and explore ways to present meaningful, significant materials and learning opportunities to the OT community. To join the committee, email Clare Bachner.

Click here to learn more about the historical marker that Olam Tikvah and our partner organizations have sponsored on Little River Turnpike commemorating the slave trade.

Interfaith Communities for Dialogue Statement Against Racism

Olam Tikvah has joined on in signing the ICD letter which states that as a network of faith-based and associated organizations, Interfaith Communities for Dialogue (ICD) promotes mutual understanding and positive relationships among diverse people in and around Fairfax County. In our respective faiths, and in our ICD mission, we promote the values of inclusiveness, integrity, mutual respect and trust of ALL people. The full letter can be read here.

February 23, 2025: Neurological Basis of Prejudice will be held at 3-5 PM, Little River United Church of Christ, 8410 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA. Join us for either or both. Click here for details and registration. Questions? Email interfaithcd@gmail.com. See attached program flyer.