Send Your Ideas for Tzedakah and Environmental Projects to Ma'yan Tikvah.
2011 Projects
February Environment Project Do you have a bird feeder? If so, you can participate in the Mass Audubon Society's 2012 Focus on Feeders Weekend, February 4-5. Count the birds at your feeder one time during the weekend and submit the data to the Audubon Society to help them track bird populations. Click here to go to the Mass Audubon Society website for more information and an official 2012 Focus on Feeders Report Form. The Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the Audubon Society, takes place from February 17-20. For information about this bird count, click here. Here's a blessing you can recite when you do the count. (You can also make up your own blessing!)
On
this glorious day, I give thanks to you, O G!d. Thank you for the many wonders
of the earth, for fleeting glimpses of color – red and blue and yellow, white
and green and orange, for feathers long and short and for flight through the
luminous sky, for nests large and small of grass and mud and sticks, for songs
that awaken us in the morning and lull us to sleep in the evening, “that my
soul might sing to you and not be silent, Wondrous One my G!d. Forever, I will
thank you.” (Ps. 31:13)
Rabbi Katy Z. Allen, February 1, 2012 / 8 Shvat 5772
January/Tevet Environment Project It's time to think summer! If you don't belong to a CSA - community supported agriculture - now is the time to sign up so that you can get fresh, organic, local produce all summer long. There are many farms to choose from. In Lincoln - Drumlin Farm, the Food Project, Lindentree Farm; in Sudbury - Siena Farm; in Framingham - Stearns Farm; in Wayland - Mainstone Farm for a different kind of CSA. To find out about other towns, click here. You can also - RIGHT NOW - join a fresh, local, sustainably caught fish CSA, Cape Ann Fresh Catch. Their winter share has six more pickups, starting this week, with pick up places throughout the greater Boston area. One more option is the Massachusetts Local Food Cooperative. They offer many kinds of locally grown and/or produced foods, with pickups in a variety of places. If you are up for raw milk, check out Eastleigh Farm in Framingham for milk and dairy products year round.
December/Kislev Tzedakah Project 2 Once again as we head into winter, we think of those who do not have enough to eat. To make a donation to the Project Bread, the state's leading anti-hunger organization, dedicated to alleiviating, preventing, and ending hunger in Massachusetts. Click here to make a donation.
December/Kislev Environment Project Make it last! That is the message of the little bottle of oil that burned for eight days instead of one. Stretch its usefulness beyond what it appears that it can be. Look around your home and your life. What could YOU do that would make the Earth's water / oil / gas / trees / minerals / etc. last longer? Share your action with us when you come for a Ma'yan Tikvah event this month.
August Tzedakah Project Our tzedakah project for the month of August is the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund, in memory of the young woman murdered in Wayland on July 4th weekend. The mission of the fund is: “[T]he promotion of dynamic educational programs, particularly those in the areas of the development of healthy teen relationships, the arts and community service." Contributions to the fund can be sent c/o the Village Bank, 62 Boston Post Road, Wayland, MA 01778.
July Tzedakah Project The background work for building four homes through Habitat for Humanity is being done here in Wayland. Two duplexes will go up on Stonebridge Road. Habitat is working to make these homes as “green” as possible and local volunteers are in the stage of looking for donations. A contribution of $2500 is considered a sponsorship of a home. There are almost 100 names on the Ma’yan Tikvah mailing list – which means that if each of you gave $25 we would almost have it. Or if 1 out of 4 gave $100. If you are interested in helping make this happen, please email Ma'yan Tikvah. This is a huge challenge, but it is something we could feel really good about. When it comes time to getting people to help build these homes, they don’t have any problem getting helping hands. The fundraising is the harder part. If we can't reach this large goal, it is possible to make on-line donations by clicking here.
June Tzedakah Project We may feel like we've been giving for one disaster after another, and that is true, but people continue to be in need. Donations of money are what is most needed for victims of the tornadoes in the south and such donations are still needed. A targeted donation to MAZON will be sent to where it is needed most. Click here to make an on-line donation.
May Tzedakah Project Rails to Trails Conservancy helps to promote and build and maintain rail trails all around the country. There is a new rail trail going in in Framingham now, and hopefully will be soon available for riding and walking. You can find out more about their work and make a donation by clicking here.
April Environmental Project Last year, I wrote about Transition Initiatives. Now it is happening here in Wayland, and in 50 other towns across Massachusetts, including Sudbury. Go to http://transitionmassachusetts.ning.com/groups to see if your town is part of TI.) Transition Initiatives around the world are looking economic instability, climate change, oil dependence, energy depletion, food insecurity, and the destruction of natural habitats square in the face and they're asking: what can we do? The answer is: lots. Transition Wayland wants to get to work by raising awareness about the issues while cutting them down to the size of our community. The idea is to start building Wayland’s resilience by relocalizing our economy, food, energy, and culture, thus preparing us for a low-carbon future that nourishes the community while respecting the Earth. For more information, to go www.transitionwayland.org or contact the organizers at info@transitionwayland.org.
Sunday, 3 April, from 2-4 pm, Transition Trainer Tina Clarke will be on hand to explain the model, and to discuss what it can do for Wayland and how to proceed. (Raytheon Room, Library)
On Saturday 9 April, from 11 am -2pm, Transition Wayland will have a Booth at the Earth Day Fair. (DPW, Middle School)
On Monday April 11, from 6:30-8:30 pm, there will be a recorded interview with Bill McKibben and then a discussion of his book, Eaarth. (Raytheon Room, Library)
On Monday April 25, from 6:30-8:30 pm, Donna Kramer Merritt will present on Climate Change, followed up with a Global Warming Café workshop. (Raytheon Room, Library)