Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Recognized by the Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia as a Zone of Peace in December 2013.
KI Members volunteering to serve a dignified breakfast to the homeless at Broad Street Ministry
Senior Rabbi Lance Sussman told the interviewers from Zones of Peace that Biblically and theologically, peace is the ultimate goal of the Jewish quest. KI’s staff and lay leadership guide this large congregation (900+families) in an amazing array of programs and initiatives that demonstrate their quest for peace. KI addresses food insecurity in many ways including growing a garden on their property. Children work side by side with adults to tend and harvest the vegetables, and the produce is given to Philabuandance. There also are significant initiatives addressing ecological issues, gun violence, homelessness, and disaster relief (18 large truckloads of supplies were sent to the Gulf coast after Hurricane Katrina).
KI: December 25 Mitzvah Day for First Responders
KI provides hospitality for the LGBTQ community and advocates for policies to expand social justice in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, and the nation. It builds interfaith understanding and cooperation in a variety of ways including hosting an Iftar dinner during Ramadan, which becomes an interfaith educational event for the entire community. Within their congregation, every child of every age group participates in interfaith education and helping others with hands-on projects. Within the larger community, KI works in coalition with Meals on Wheels, Interfaith Housing, the Cheltenham Area Multi-Faith Council, POWER, Jewish advocacy groups, Ceasefire PA, and more. KI is able to address big issues and play a role nationally and internationally while never forgetting that each child, youth and adult matters; and that peace is both the congregation’s immediate and ultimate goal.
Upper Dublin Lutheran Church, Ambler, Pennsylvania
Recognized by the Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia as a Zone of Peace in December 2013.
Food for the hungry via Philabundance.
At UDLC, the Zones of Peace interview team met with no less than eight lay leaders, each of whom coordinates a significant cluster of congregational efforts to make a positive difference wherever there is a need, locally, in urban Philadelphia, and around the world. Those interviewed were filled with joy and pride as a result of their service.
Upper Dublin feeds the hungry through several programs, and keeps a supply of frozen meals on hand for congregational families in crisis. The congregation resettles religiously diverse refugees, sponsors families in homelessness transition, sends care packages and letters to deployed military staff, provides scholarships to Tanzanian students, has helped build and sustain a college in Tanzania that specializes in preparing Special Education teachers, sponsors community events to bring people together “without boundaries,” and encourages ecological stewardship. One of their programs provides beds for children in poverty, delivering 8 – 10 beds – with bedding – weekly, with an annual goal of 500 per year.
“During bed deliveries, volunteers often find children sharing sleeping bags on the floor, lying on mattresses with springs sticking out, and crowded onto sofas. … Each week, we deliver 8 to 10 beds, with bedding. Our goal is 500 new beds this year.” Upper Dublin and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church volunteers.
Both those who serve and those who are served report a significant impact on their lives due to the congregation’s spirit and efforts. One leader said, “Feeding the homeless in Center City teaches us that the homeless are not objects of charity but people we can get to know and care about.” A high school youth wrote on her college application that her experiences with the congregation’s Appalachian Service Project trips were “life altering” because they convinced her that she could make a difference in the world. Men’s breakfasts with a nearby congregation are “breaking down the barriers of racism that separate us from our neighbors.”
Involving children and youth makes most of the congregation’s projects intergenerational, and most of the projects involve personal interaction with the recipients of their aid. Upper Dublin sees these projects as an important form of leadership development for both youth and adults. The congregation’s identity is that of a congregation that actively meets real needs in the real world, and that identity is helping the congregation grow – in numbers and in its impact as a Zone of Peace.
The Young Heroes Outreach Program of the National Liberty Museum
Recognized by the Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia as a Zone of Peace in December 2013.
Rowen School Young Heroes Learn Strategies for Change from the Civil Rights Movement
The National Liberty Museum, located at 321 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 19106 conducts a free outreach program in eleven schools each year. YHOP (Young Heroes Outreach Program) teaches the practice of freedom to elementary and middle school children. Each school provides a faculty advisor and coordinates the program with classroom teaching. In YHOP, freedom is taught as a community concept. Rather than focusing on individual entitlement, it teaches that freedom involves exercising agency and accepting responsibility. Children in the program use their freedom to solve problems by applying initiative, critical thinking, research, and creativity in a collegial model.
YHOP begins in September and continues throughout the school year. The students first visit the Liberty Museum for a two hour tour and educational experience. Next, there are four in-school sessions conducted by the Museum’s outreach educators during the school day. The concept of freedom is studied (What violates it? What expresses it?), along with the concept of ‘hero’, and protocols for expressing freedom through social action. When that is completed, the most interested students form a Young Heroes Club. Club members select a community action project to address a problem that concerns their school or community. Previous projects have included measures to resolve bullying, gun violence, unhealthy school lunches and teen pregnancy, just to name a few.
One faculty advisor said, “I have tracked teachers’ comments on the report cards of students who participated in YHOP, and children with behavioral and academic issues dramatically improve during the school year as a result of involvement.” Nick Ospa, NLM’s Manager of Outreach Education, added, “A key value is self-determination. We prepare the students, train them, then let them actualize freedom by creating change where it is needed.” One of the educators added, “We make sure the students make their own decisions…. Getting that respect and affirmation from us changes them.”
Young Heroes work together to better their community.
In their formative years, Young Heroes are acquiring experience and solid techniques for taking civic responsibility. They become confident and zealous agents of effective social action. Each YHOP site becomes a de facto Zone of Peace.
