Serving up 'good deeds'
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Stephen Dugger of Homestead stands outside the holiday-bedecked window Sunday at the Rainbow Kitchen in Homestead. The Jewish community joined together for its annual Mitzvah Day volunteer project. -
Elissa Mendelson of Upper St. Clair asks diners at the Rainbow Kitchen in Homestead if they would like baked stuffed chicken or ham for their Christmas dinner.
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Home from college for the holidays, Becca Sonnenklar and Lucy Ainsman were enjoying "Jewish Christmas Eve" with Chinese food and charades when Ms. Sonnenklar had an idea.
She and her family would be serving hot Christmas meals Sunday as part of Mitzvah Day, a celebration of community service.
"I was like, 'Come with us!' " Ms. Sonnenklar, a senior at the University of Arizona, told her best friend. " 'Do a mitzvah.' "
On Christmas morning, the friends, both 21, found themselves at Homestead's Rainbow Kitchen, delivering steaming plates of warm chicken, squash, stuffing and ham to tables of the less fortunate.
"I'm glad I can take time out of my day to be there for them when they need someone," said Ms. Ainsman, a senior at Miami University in Ohio, who listened attentively to the life stories of men whose lunches she had just served.
The friends from Squirrel Hill were among the more than 500 mostly Jewish volunteers who delivered gifts, played bingo with the elderly, crafted toys for needy children and penned letters to soldiers as part of Mitzvah Day, a yearly day of service. Run by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the projects benefited social service agencies and were a way to give back, said Robin Gordon, Ms. Sonnenklar's mother.
"I feel blessed in my life," she said. "It's a way to help people that aren't as lucky."
She watched with pride as her daughter and 16-year-old son, Jake, made their way around the tables serving what organizers expected would be nearly 100 people. Among them was Stephen Dugger, 62, a homeless man who stays at Cleft of the Rock ministries in Homestead.
"They were wonderful," he said of the volunteers. "It means a lot. It goes to show you that kindness and generosity are manufactured around Christmastime, but it should be all year long."
Sitting across from him was David Brown, 56, of West Mifflin, who had never heard the word "mitzvah," which, in Hebrew, is generally defined as a good deed. He understood its meaning after watching the workers scramble to put food on plates and offer refills. Though his own childhood was filled with volunteerism, he found himself a guest at the kitchen after falling on hard times. His mother and brother both died recently, leaving him with nowhere else to go for Christmas.
"It's great," he said of the food. "This stuff is awesome. It's extra good seeing these young kids."
Mitzvah Day was a first for Ms. Sonnenklar and Ms. Ainsman. They said it wouldn't likely be their last.
"I'd like to make a tradition out of it," Ms. Sonnenklar said.
First Published December 26, 2011 12:00 am
