The Mitzvah Garden is a community gardening project that grew from the passions and talents of members of The Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah. Our garden is an expansion of the Mitzvah Garden which was started in 2000 at Village Shalom. B’nai Jehudah Volunteers of all ages join other congregations and organizations throughout the community to make the garden a success. We are extremely proud to be able to donate almost 3,000 lbs of produce yearly to various food panties in our community, especially the Simcha Box Program which benefits those in need of fresh food in our local community.

With funding from the Herman Levikow Foundation, consultation from the Kansas City Community Gardens, Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture, and the Kansas State Research and Extension Service, we were able to turn our dreams of gardening and raising awareness about hunger into a reality that has benefitted our entire community.

The work is ongoing and the garden is growing. Given the success that we experienced, we actually increased the size of the garden by 50% to accommodate the increasing need for locally grown fruits and vegetables. We have developed a mailing list of over 200 volunteers and would love to add your name, so you can have updates and participate in our planting and harvesting efforts. If you’re interested, please contact us at mitzvahgardenkc@gmail.com or call Larry Lehman directly at 913-685-2685.

Our Mitzvah Garden is in the news:

Check us out on You Tube

For many years the Hunger/ Social Justice Fund has helped to provide assistance to people in need by making donations to agencies, groups, food pantries and organizations locally, throughout the United States and the world. Jewish Family Services, Harvesters, Micah Ministries, Mazon, Hazon Yeshaya and others have received funds as directed by the Social Action Committee. In keeping with the core values of our Congregation and the value of Tikkun Olam, the fund will help to provide for those in need in our community and the world.

Thank you for your past generosity.

Your continued support will help to make our world a better place.

Recent fund allocations include:

(January 2013)

$250 Micah Ministries (Independence)
$250 Johnson County Food Ministries
$500 Hurricane Sandy Relief – through Federation
$250 JFS Food Pantry
$250 JFS Passover

Mitzvah Day: A Congregational-Wide Day of Community Service

Mitzvah Day 2013: Sunday, May 5th!

Mitzvah Day is an important annual event which provides the entire congregation the opportunity to join together and perform mitzvot (good deeds) as a congregation family. Mitzvah Day is a chance to kick start your ongoing commitment to service and social change in the coming year. We want you to help heal the world with a little elbow grease and a lot of heart!

Some of the Mitzvah Day activities have included:

• Planting in the B’nai Jehudah Mitzvah Garden
• Sorting and packaging food at Harvesters
• Assembling toiletry bags for Micah Ministry
• Preparing a meal for the Ronald McDonald House
• Assembling journals for University Academy

Things to do in advance of Mitzvah Day:

• Grow out your hair so you can donate it to Locks of Love
• Save toiletries for one of our collections