Editor’s note: There’s no denying 2020 has been a tough year, and we’re sorry we missed this noteworthy story from last month. Enjoy!
Over the Nov. 8 weekend, members of the men’s club at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley came together for a bagel making fundraiser for those affected by the wildfires earlier this year in Oregon.
“Several of our Beth Shalom Temple Center members are from Southern Oregon and are acutely aware of the devastating toll the recent Almeda fire took on their neighbors in the towns of Talent and Phoenix,” says Mike Finkelstein.
Led by temple member Lenny Friedman, the men’s club made and sold more than 40 dozen bagels. Proceeds from the effort “along with a generous donation from the Men’s Club own account,” Finkelstein says, were donated to the rabbi’s discretionary fund at Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland, Oregon, which is near the towns that were hit hardest by the fire.
Over the course of two days, six volunteers mixed the dough and five worked in forming, boiling, baking, and sorting bagels. The volunteers all used strict COVID-19 precautionary measures masks, head coverings, and gloves while working in the kitchen.
The BSTC men’s club plans to hold more bagel making fundraisers in 2021, with different community needs, probably local, selected each time, Finkelstein adds.
