Social Action

Helping Wellspring & the Community

The Temple is pleased to be one of 16 congregations that support Wellspring Interfaith Social Services. Find volunteer opportunities.

Volunteers currently are needed for:
The Older Adult Program, which provides programming for seniors. Volunteer duties include socializing with seniors, playing table games and cards, participating in exercise class, leading seniors to water our raised garden beds, serving lunch, and cleaning up after the program. Volunteers are needed every day that programming is offered, including Mondays, Wednesdays to Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Find out more.

The Food Bank, which is open Monday through Saturday. Volunteers are needed to collect in-take information, gather food orders, and serve Food Bank participants. Hours are: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Tuesdays from 5 to 7:30 p.m., Thursdays from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Find out more.

The Wellspring Shoppe at 1210 Broadway Avenue opened in late 2014 to provide free quality clothing to Fort Wayne's central city residents. Volunteers are needed for two-hour shifts to assist customers as they fill out paperwork and shop for their families. Other duties include sorting, folding and displaying clothing. Find out more.

Summer Day Camp - A seven-week summer program for youth ages 4-17 with learning opportunities including math, reading, and critical thinking, as well as dance, music, yoga, art and field trips. Volunteers must be 16 years or older and background check required. Find out more.

After School Program - Programming is offered Monday through Friday at the Wellspring Center and two Title 1 elementary schools (Study on Mondays and Lindley on Wednesdays). Programs and activities vary. Volunteers must be at least 18 years or older and background check required. Find out more.

Our Religious School attended a Mitzvah Day to help with yard work and other activities. Our Junior Youth Group participates in the Bowling for Wellspring Fundraiser. We support Wellspring's Food Bank through our food drives. Our Religious School also has attended a Mitzvah Day to help with yard work and other activities.

Interfaith Build

Fort Wayne Habitat for Humanity is partnering with congregations and organizations throughout the city - including the Temple and others in the Jewish community - for the first "Interfaith Build" in Allen County. Construction began in September 2014 in Fuller's Landing and was completed in March 2015. We worked side by side with individuals from different backgrounds, learning more about unique beliefs in our community, and putti

ng faith into action to make the dream of home ownership a reality for a hardworking family. Volunteer at Habitat for Humanity.

A dedication ceremony was held on Thursday, March 19 and Asia Clayton and her daughter received their keys.

Asia and Brooklyn (second and third from the left) were at the Interfaith Build fundraiser and met Jaki Schreier, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Fort Wayne (left), Karen Spain, who is a new Habitat homeowner, and Colleen Carpenter, president of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Wayne.

Whenever a Habitat house is being built, $60,000 must be in the bank as a commitment to the project. Congregations and organizations in Fort Wayne raised the money for the Interfaith Build House. Thank you for your generosity and help.

The Jewish community's representatives on the steering committee are: Jan Sarratore (Congregation Achduth Vesholom), Jaki Schreier (Jewish Federation of Fort Wayne), and Mike Adams (Congregation B'nai Jacob).

Social Action Efforts

Our congregation's commitment to social action focuses on a variety of projects in the spirit of tikkun olam to help the community and world.

Our ongoing Thoughtful Thursdays program in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Fort Wayne and Congregation B'nai Jacob helps 86 children and their families who attend Temple Head Start. We are excited to be a winner of the 2013 Irving J. Fain Social Action Award! We received the honor at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism's Consultation on Conscience in Washington, DC. Find out more about Thoughtful Thursdays or see our program brochure.

In addition to Thoughtful Thursdays, Achduth Vesholom has an annual High Holy Days food drive to assist local food banks, including Community Harvest, Wellspring Interfaith Social Services, and Associated Churches. Take a grocery bag home on Rosh Hashanah and bring it back on Yom Kippur filled with non-perishable items. Our Hanukkah food drive also helps in the community. During Purim, we ask everyone to bring boxes of macaroni and cheese to use as groggers during the service and then donate the items to the needy.

The Temple Youth Group selects tikkun olam projects annually to assist a variety of organizations. Our Religious School students participate in tzedakah projects.

Our members support MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, including encouraging our b'nei mitzvah students to donate a portion of their gifts to feed the hungry. We ask our members to support MAZON, especially during the High Holy Days and Passover.

Achduth Vesholom is one of 16 supporting congregations of Wellspring Interfaith Social Services. Our Junior Youth Group participates in Bowling for Wellspring, while Temple members volunteer for other programs.

We're also part of the Northeast Indiana LGBTQ Coalition. Our Temple board completed Safe Space training to become affirming allies of the LGBTQ community. Our members also are invited to attend a Safe Space seminar.

The Jewish community also is involved with Habitat for Humanity's first Interfaith Build in 2014.

To find out more about how you can help, contact the Temple office (260) 744-4245.

Day of Silence and Breaking the Silence Rally Against LGBTQ Bullying

Members of CongregationAchduth Vesholom will participate on April 17, 2015 in the Northeast Indiana LGBTQ Coalition "Day of Silence and Breaking the Silence" Vigil and Rally at Headwaters Park. Last year, Rabbi Cattapan broke the silence on behalf of the 65 people who attended from the community. Many congregants wore t-shirts that said "Love Conquers Hate" in Hebrew and in English to speak out about the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. Read Rabbi Cattapan's remarks from the event.

Religious Action Center News