For years, Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun’s social action committee was involved in feeding the hungry.
“It was pretty much limited to collecting canned goods and boxes of food for the Jewish Community Pantry,” said Reenie Kavlar, a long-involved member of the congregation’s efforts.
The program changed dramatically with the 2009 death of Louise DeCasseres Mayer Salinsky. A longtime member of the congregation, Salinsky left about $800,000 to the program, one of 15 gifts left to groups in Milwaukee and Chicago where she and her late husband, Lester, lived.
“It was a complete surprise,” said Kavlar, a leading member of the steering committee of what is now known as the Salinsky Program to Feed the Hungry. “We did not know her well.”
Initially there was much discussion on how the money should be used, Kavlar said. “There were some who felt we should spend it all right away,” said Kavlar. “We decided we should create a sustaining program that can continue to provide for those in hunger.”
Influencing the decision was a panel discussion that brought together leaders in organizations from all over the city who try to meet the needs of the hungry.
“None of us here really knows what hunger is,” said Kavlar. “My mother was a Holocaust survivor and she talked about living on potato skins. But we have not known real hunger ourselves.”
The needs in Milwaukee are almost overwhelming, the group quickly learned.
The first year, the program paid to create a kitchen for Repairers of the Breach, a program that provides a daytime refuge and resource center for homeless adults; helped pay harvest staff for Tikkun Ha-Ir’s garden project that provides fresh produce to the needy; supported the Victory Garden Initiative and contributed to Feeding America.
Since then the Salinsky program has funded the purchase of equipment for a number of organizations including the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center, Guest House, the Jewish Community Pantry and Meta House as well as providing support for Feeding the America Mobile Food Pantry through Jewish Family Services and Passover chickens through Ma’ot Chittim.
Going forward, Kavlar said she expects the program will make $10,000 to $12,000 annual donations to programs and treat the fund as an endowment.
Kavlar’s husband, Gary, a former president of the congregation, said the committee made the decision to be responsible stewards of the gift and establish the criteria for how it would be spent. “To me that was one of the most incredibly important decisions that were made,” he said. “It also provided opportunities for many members of the congregation to get involved.”
Heidi Salter is one of those who got involved. A young mother from Germantown, she said she found it to be a way for families to work together to serve those in need.
“A couple times a month during the school year kids and their parents make sandwich lunches for Repairers of the Breach after Sunday school,” Salter said. “We also have a cooking club of seven or eight who make meals for about 25 women at Meta House (an outpatient program for women recovering from substance abuse).”
Other programs, such as a Mitzvah Day event in May where families make snack packs for the Hunger Task Force’s summer program for kids, have become regular events. “We expect to make 2,000 snack packs,” said Kavlar.
The program also got Salter and her children involved in the congregation’s garden. “It teaches our children where our food comes from,” she said.
Judy Kaplan, another active member of the group, said an elderly woman who lives in an apartment volunteered to plant beans. “She likes the mission to feed the hungry,” Kaplan said. “And she’s into helping others.”
Why Salinsky gave to the program remains a mystery, even to those who knew her well. Michael Fefferman, the now-retired synagogue’s director of religious education and later administration, said Salinsky was an active member of the congregation’s education committee who was generous with her time.
“She was absolutely charming and helped in many ways,” he said. “She delighted in holding fancy dinner parties and inviting people who would not normally come together. I was completely shocked when I learned of the gift but I knew that she was always concerned with the plight of those who were less fortunate. The gift was very much in character.”
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· At 1335 W. Vliet Street in Milwaukee’s central city
· Greater Milwaukee’s only daytime refuge for homeless adults
· Recipient of assistance from the Salinsky Program to Feed the Hungry
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