It is hard – perhaps impossible – for most of us to imagine a day without enough food to eat. From time to time we’ll declare “I’m starving!” followed by devouring a meal of our choice and settling back with a satisfied sigh.
Yet for too many in our country, not having enough to eat is a stark reality. We may not notice it in our daily lives, or even think about it, but it’s there and it’s real. And it’s all the more heartbreaking when we think of the group – the children and teens – that makes up such a large percentage of the devastating statistics.
One of Jewish Family & Children’s Service most successful programs for teens and young adults from this at-risk population is called Real World Job Development. Started in 2006, the specialized program provides services to youth between the ages of 14 and 21 who are phasing out of the foster care system into independence, dealing with emotional or mental health challenges and/or living in out-of-home placements. Staffed with trained, knowledgeable and caring professionals, the program provides a variety of services to the young people. Among the offerings are literacy skills, GED education and support, job training, individual and group living, skills training, job referrals and more.
When Holly Packer toured the facility at 23rd Avenue and Dunlap in Phoenix, she was both impressed and touched by the myriad of services offered to the young people to help them earn high school degrees and gain meaningful employment, as well as teaching them life skills.
“How can I help?” she asked. It was explained to her that the program didn’t need volunteers as such, that the staff was highly trained in dealing with the types of problems associated with this particular population.
“But there must be something I can do,” she insisted. Holly has a B.S. in nursing and had served for a number of years on the Foster Care Review Board. Her four children were nearly grown; the empty nest was growing close. She had been on the board of the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School and had worked with the Crisis Nursery. While she enjoyed those stints, she found that board work was not really her thing. Her husband, Jeffrey, is a doctor, and Holly felt both fortunate – and humbled – by the fact that she didn’t “have” to work. She was looking for an opportunity to make a real difference.
“Well, there is something,” responded RWJD Director Gina Harper. “They come here hungry. If we could help to remove food insecurity, it would go a long way in contributing to their well-being and success.”
Holly had no idea. She learned that more than 600 teens in Arizona are abandoned each year because they “age out” of the foster care system. Half are destined never to graduate from high school or get a job, and a quarter of them will become homeless. She hadn’t considered something as basic as food would be a major factor in trying to turn their lives around.
Gina explained that while food banks do a great job for families, they were less convenient for teens, most of whom had no transportation and didn’t really need large bags and boxes of groceries. Since the youth were already making the effort to get to RWJD, if there were a way they could have the food brought to them at that location, it would be a huge boon to them.
It was spring 2011. Holly’s son was married April 30; Holly began work on the new project on May 1. She laid out plans to develop the concept into a reality.
“I started thinking about what could be done to assist these young people. I realized that not everyone can write a check each month, but nearly everyone could donate three food items.” With that, the program called Just 3 Things was launched with the goal of having a well-stocked food pantry available to the participants at RWJD.
The concept is beautiful in its simplicity: collection boxes are placed around town at high-traffic areas such as synagogues, the JCC and others. The food is delivered to RWJD, where the clients stock and maintain the pantry.
When asked how the food gets from the collection boxes to the facility, Holly smiles and says, “It just works!” Her response is another indication of her humility. In reality, “it just works” because Holly makes it work. She contacts agencies and organizations to educate them about the need and to encourage donations through food drives and ongoing collections. She corrals new donors. She personally goes around to collection boxes; she’ll meet people in convenient parking lots to save them travel time; she’s even found food left on her doorstep. Some individuals take their own food to the site, but generally it’s Holly and Jeff, Valley residents since 1984, who are doing the schlepping. Jeff also does all of the IT work necessary to help with their monthly newsletter and marketing.
The program is thriving. “People want to help,” Holly says. “They want to contribute.” And she has made some great alliances. This year, for example, Purim groggers at several of the Jewish preschools had been created out of macaroni boxes. After the holiday, the schools “recycled” the full, unopened boxes by donating them to the pantry.
A long-time member of Temple Chai in north Phoenix, Holly finds it easy to make the Jewish connection to the work she’s doing. “On Sukkot we are commanded by the Torah to give to the poor the gleanings of our field,” she says. “While we may not have the fields nearby, we can still contribute. We worked with Pardes Jewish Day School, and they asked their students to bring food to their Sukkot Under the Stars event. It was so wonderful!”
But of course, there is always a need for more. The program has extended to the JFCS Catalina Health Center, a new 24,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art integrated primary medical and behavioral health clinic located in the Maryvale neighborhood of Phoenix, serving 8,500 children, adolescents and adults. And Holly hopes for still more locations.
“We want to make this a reality in all of the mental health facilities run by JFCS, as well,” she says. “That means we’ll need a lot more food!”
Mario Lippy from the Catalina Health Center reports there has been an immediate impact with the extension of the program to their facility. He recently sent Holly a note including quotes from several staff members, with comments such as: “Members appreciate not only the food, but that they are being thought of;” “The children look forward to the healthy snacks and have learned to share, take turns and use manners;” and “We’re showing the teens the difference between healthy snacks like trail mix and granola bars as alternatives to chips and Cheetos, and we do food demonstrations with whole wheat pasta and alternative grains such as quinoa and brown rice. Having the options here allows us to have the tools we need to educate and empower clients to make healthier food choices in their lives every day.”
The staff at RWJD feels much the same. Gina Harper says, “Holly is a lifesaver! She is so generous in spirit and of her time to help our youth with some of their most basic needs. Her efforts and creativity with seeking out other generous donors has grown tremendously over the years. This has been great because the needs of the program have also grown. Whenever our needs change or grow in a certain area, Holly seeks out those who can help. This could be with nonfood items as well, like personal hygiene items that the youth cannot afford or purchase with food stamps. Holly makes it happen! She has a heart of gold and is one who truly makes a difference!”
Holly doesn’t want to hear praise about herself, though. She’s focused on the program and how to increase capacity to include all the mental health centers. She also notes that with summer coming, the need is greater than ever.
“Donations always fall off as summer approaches, but the needs of the kids don’t,” she passionately points out.
Help is always needed. Currently Holly is looking for a volunteer to help with the website. And many have found creative ways to get involved that Holly likes to share. “We’re finding more kids who collect or give food in honor of their bar/bat mitzvahs,” she says. “What a great way to put a personal stamp on giving. Book clubs are also great collection sites. Pantry food can be donated in lieu of a hostess gift. And I’m very excited that some people are asking for donations to the pantry rather than gifts for their children at their birthday parties.”
Alison and Michael Feinberg love to mark their kids’ important milestones with celebrations. But as Alison says, “Birthday parties are super fun, but they can be overwhelming and expensive when you have three children. …If you have a party where you’ve invited a lot of children, there is the mountain of gifts to be brought home and acknowledged.”
Alison says she enjoys helping her children select gifts for their friends. But, she says, “At some point, it’s just too much stuff. We firmly believe in the importance of teaching our children the values of tzedakah and the difference between a ‘need’ and ‘want.’ How can we have so many toys in our house when there are hungry kids out there? Just 3 Things made it so easy for us to do this by having a collection bin at the JCC.”
When the Feinberg’s daughter, Nora, turned 10, they collected macaroni and cheese, and 5-year-old-son Josh collected peanut butter and jelly. For her 8th birthday, daughter Sadie collected Gatorade and water, which is very much in demand, especially during the long, hot Arizona summer. The Feinbergs belong to Congregation Or Tzion in Scottsdale, where Alison is a member of the board of directors as fundraising chair.
Emily Mallin and Jason Klein also welcomed the project into their family. As Emily says, “We have tried to instill in our girls the importance of tzedakah and hopefully have inspired them to want to serve others. We have always used their birthdays and other events as opportunities to help others.”
Emily notes that last year seemed to mark an increase in homeless people on street corners holding signs asking for help. Her girls asked lots of questions about this, which led to discussions and suggestions about how the family could help. “The idea for having birthday guests donate to Just 3 Things came from one of these conversations,” Emily says. “The girls feel really proud when they come up with the idea for how to use their event as an opportunity to do a mitzvah, and they love helping to put together the items for donation. They already are developing a strong sense of community and social justice.”
The Mallin-Klein family belongs to Beth El Congregation, where their 4-year-old daughter, Sara, attends preschool, and where the Mallin family has been active for several generations. Daughter Eliana is 7 and attends Tesseract.
Holly has been recognized by several groups for the work she is doing, though she is quick to minimize the honors, always preferring to give the credit to others. In 2012 JFCS nominated her for the Spirit of Philanthropy Award, which she received from the Association of Fundraising Professionals. At the Women’s Philanthropy Ignition luncheon in March, she was presented with the 2015 “Spirit of Jeannette” Continuing Service Award by Women’s Philanthropy of Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. (The award was established in memory of Dr. Jeannette Flom, who exemplified philanthropy in the Jewish community.) Recently, she received the Canyon Ranch Inspiration Award, to celebrate the Tucson world-class health resort and spa’s 35th anniversary and in association with Health magazine. Holly did have to admit, with a somewhat embarrassed grin, that she was really looking forward to spending the awarded 4-day Canyon Ranch stay with her daughter.
The number three figures prominently in Judaism. Shimon HaTzaddik said, “On three things the world stands. On Torah, on service (of God) and on acts of human kindness.”
Pirke Avot teaches that just as a stool needs three legs to stand, our spiritual lives also have a three-part balance, delineating the parts as Teshuva (return to purity), Tefillah (prayer) and Tzedakah. Though tzedakah is often translated as “charity,” it is more specifically “righteousness, i.e., doing the right thing.”
As found on Aish.com, “At its highest level, tzedakah requires us to ‘understand’ another human being: Who is he? What does he lack? How can I help him fulfill his role in life? Then I need to act.”
Holly Packer has always striven to have a life in balance. Those who’ve seen her in action recognize that she has embraced the highest level of tzedakah and put her time, energies and devotion to understanding the needs of a greatly underserved population. She saw that they lack the most basic of necessities: food. She created a system by which she could facilitate assistance. And she is acting upon her convictions. Holly is a reminder that all of us have the ability to really make a difference.
