Oniel Gilbourne was arrested in September after allegedly beating a 64-year-old Hasidic rabbi with a paving stone in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. While the community wondered aloud what was in Gilbourne’s mind, he likely heard a drumbeat of acronyms — MMPI-2, MCMI-II, WAIS-R — representing some tests used to assess mental illness. Violent attacks on the…
“Homeless women need bras.” Those four words were life-changing for Dana Marlowe when she first heard them in 2015. Known as “The Accidental Bra Fairy,” Marlowe has distributed more than 500,000 bras and 2.5 million personal hygiene products to women in need. During last month’s government shutdown, Marlowe put out a Facebook post in which…
Socks are the “single most-needed article of clothing in homeless shelters” — and remain the least-donated items, according to Adina Lichtman, the twenty-five year old founder of Knock, Knock Give a Sock (KKGS), the non-profit dedicated to reducing the stigma of homelessness. Lichtman, a New Jersey native, says that while nine out of ten people…
This piece is part of a series of perspectives from Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award Recipients on their experiences in philanthropic work. When I was 11 years old, I came upon a homeless man near my house, dressed in just a t-shirt and jeans, on what was by far, the coldest day of the year….
More than 1,000 people in Great Britain donated food and other goods made in Israel to homeless shelters. IsrAction Day, which was held Sunday, called on shoppers to purchase food and goods made in Israel to counter boycott initiatives, and then to donate them. The initiative was organized by Sussex Friends of Israel in Brighton…
My neighborhood association is disturbed by a recent and ongoing surge in the number of “unsavory” people who use the neighborhood’s plentiful benches for sleeping. It proposes installing bench railings every three feet, which would render stretching out for sleep impossible. In 1968, the federally established minimum wage was $1.60 an hour. That works out…
The umbrella body for Jewish public policy groups joined other religious organizations in asking Congress to provide $1 billion to the National Housing Trust Fund. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Catholic Charities (USA) and the National Council of Churches are working together to elevate poverty in the national dialogue, according to a press release…
“This is not your average garden,” chuckles Yvette Parnell as we survey the former Hayes Valley parking lot that has been transformed into the Growing Home Community Garden on a stunningly clear January afternoon. Indeed, a full tour and history of the vibrantly decorated urban garden reveals the magic contained not only in its lush…
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