Double Mitzvah Reverse Tashlich – October 2 @ High School Park

Instead of putting crumbs into Tookany Creek, we will clean up around the creek to keep trash and debris from polluting the water, hence the reverse Tashlich. And the double mitzvah comes from doing this at High School Road Park after Arts in the Park when all the volunteers are exhausted. We will be doing a mitzvah for our community and our watershed! - unfortunately this effort was rained out, but we will be continuing the effort in 2023

Continue ReadingDouble Mitzvah Reverse Tashlich – October 2 @ High School Park

Green Fund for Hillel Knesset

The Hillel Knesset will be comprised of a group of 15 students from grades 3-8. The Knesset will identify areas that they would like to strengthen within the school community. They will be focusing on Hillel's Core Values, which include Tikkun Olam (and other Jewish values). Within this focus, students will identify ways that the Hillel community can become a more green and environmentally aware community. They will discuss and propose initiatives to pursue within the school and beyond. Ultimately, they will choose an initiative that aligns with this core value to enact this school year. The Green Fund (funding by this mini-grant) would allow these students to have the resources necessary to implement their initiative. Examples of initiatives might include:inviting a speaker to educate students and staff on environmental issues, improving our waste and recycling system, sponsoring a school-wide audit to identify areas of improvement, sponsoring an environmental program in the school, or other green initiatives that the students are passionate about.

Continue ReadingGreen Fund for Hillel Knesset

Greening Tashlich

For Tashlich, we included some key environmental themes. We provided an educational component related to sustainability and damage caused by bread crumbs when feed to wildlife and modified our practices in order to be more sustainable in the religious service. We also touched on a program we plan to expand for next year – the reverse tashlich. This is where we conduct a beach cleanup as part of the service.

Continue ReadingGreening Tashlich

Dor Hadash Detroit Sukkah

We will be building a community sukkah for Dor Hadash families. We will be using local materials for the sukkah structure, decorations, and for a lulav and etrog. We will also be tasting locally grown fruits and vegetables in our sukkot celebration. This will be a great way to observe the holiday and also explore and support our local food ecosystem in an interactive and delicious way. It would be great if we can get our food from a Detroit farm and have a farmer there to share information about the produce, the farming process, and what it's like to grow food in Detroit. The sukkah will be designed and built by a group of parent volunteers on the property of one of our parent/educators. The kids in our program will use gourds and other things from the farmer's market, as well as utilize recycled/upcycled materials for festive decorations. This will provide a great opportunity to talk about and practice sustainability in a creative way. We will have a program on October 9 to teach about the holiday. During Sukkot, it will be open for members of Dor Hadash and guests to strengthen our community, Jewish identity, and connection to the environment as we gather, eat, and celebrate together.

Continue ReadingDor Hadash Detroit Sukkah

Camp Kennedy Phase One

In the first phase of funding for Camp Kennedy in the Upper Peninsula, we will be purchasing a bear proof composting bin, and reusable plastic bags for backcountry trips. This will enable us to compost our food scraps, and reduce our single use plastic.

Continue ReadingCamp Kennedy Phase One

Departmental Environmental Impact Audits

We have representatives from each department on our green team and each department will be conducting an audit of their operations. The departments are Campaigns, Accounting, IT, Events, Foundations, Executive , Office Local Community Engagement, Israel Community Engagement, JWest Building Team, and Marketing. Some changes that have been made so far are: campaigns switching from paper to virtual thank you, switching to default electronic tax receipts, using to vegan, kosher caterers when available, and defaulting to dairy meals otherwise Each department that has event will have their own sustainability checklist.

Continue ReadingDepartmental Environmental Impact Audits