Social Action

Education and advocacy activities include civic engagement and voter registration drives, the TBE Dayenu Circle focused on climate justice, congregational social justice book discussions, a series of June for Justice Shabbatot, supporting refugees joining our community with Jewish Family Services, anti-racism work, and more. 

Direct Service Opportunities include these recurring opportunities:

• The Back Door Food Pantry is a collaboration between Temple Beth Emeth, St. Clare’s Episcopal Church, and the Muslim community to provide food to all those in need. Volunteers are needed to receive, unpack, and shelve food and to prepare and distribute food. To volunteer, contact Ellie Davidson, elliewdavidson@gmail.com, for more information. 
• Food Gatherers Community Kitchen, located downtown at the Delonis Center, provides 20 meals per week to those in need. Temple Beth Emeth volunteers work in the kitchen to prepare meals and serve the residents once a month on the second Saturday of the month. Volunteer shifts are from Noon - 2:30 p.m. and 2:30 - 5:00 p.m. Volunteers can be as young as 12 if accompanied by a parent. Email Ketl Freedman-Doan, cfreedman@emich.edu, to join the volunteer list or learn more. 
• Alpha House, which supports families experiencing housing instability, is a collaboration of the Interfaith Hospitality Network. The shelter provides so much more than housing relocation. Staff and volunteers help with life skills, tutoring and mentoring. Four times a year volunteers from Temple Beth Emeth and St. Clare’s, including family groups, work together to plan and prepare meals as well as visit with families in the shelter. In 2024 we need volunteers for the weeks of 3/4-3/10, 5/27-6/2, 9/2-9/8 & 12/16-12/22. Sign up for our Social Action email distribution list to learn more or reach out to Jerry Miller, jerrymiller05@gmail.com to get added to the distribution list specific to Alpha House.
  Each quarter, we purchase needed supplies and food items to re-stock the shelter shelves. We need ongoing donations to cover the costs of these items. To make a financial donation that allows us to provide these needed supplies and pantry items, please follow https://www.templebethemeth.org/make-a-donation and choose the Social Action Fund near the bottom of the form – click on YES for making a Tribute and then write in Alpha House.
• Rotating Shelter is an interfaith effort through the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County to provide warm, safe shelter, meals, and community to people experiencing homelessness. Typically around Thanksgiving, Temple Beth Emeth members alongside St. Clare's Church members make meals, serve as overnight hosts, and provide transportation to members of the Washtenaw County community who are experiencing homelessness. Sign up for our Social Action @ Temple Beth Emeth email to learn more or contact Miriam Shaw at mbs1115@yahoo.com.
• Jewish Congregations Organized for Resettlement (JCOR) is a collaboration among six Ann Arbor Jewish congregations organized to help newly arrived refugees start their lives in Ann Arbor. JCOR's mission is to help refugees re-establish their independence, orient to American culture, and develop a firm footing in their new home in the United States, and more specifically Washtenaw County. JCOR’s member congregations are Ann Arbor Orthodox Minyan, Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation, Beth Israel Congregation, Jewish Cultural Society, Pardes Hannah, and Temple Beth Emeth, with fiduciary support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor. JCOR was established in response to a request from Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County to partner with them to help settle newly arrived refugees. For more information, email Ketl Freedman-Doan at: cfreedman@emich.edu