By Dr. Jacob Sheff
The 1st Annual Men’s Club Purim 5K in Portland was a much bigger success than we ever hoped or imagined it could be. Thanks to all of our participants, this March 15 walk/run raised $4,302 after expenses for the Congregation Neveh Shalom Food Pantry.
You might be asking, what can a food pantry do with that amount? According to our friends at Feeding America, The Oregon Food Bank and the Los Angeles Regional Food bank, every $1 donated to a food bank or pantry can provide four to 12 meals, meaning our $4,302 equals up to 51,624 meals. That is enough to feed 615 families of four three meals a day for an entire week, or 154 families of four for an entire month.
For a little historical context, at last summer’s 1st annual Men’s Club summer 5K, we raised $3,125 — $1,177 less than we did this time — and our Neveh Shalom Food Pantry said afterwards that it funded their work for the next four months. It’s also worth highlighting that with the combined efforts of the two 5K runs, in one year’s time, we raised a grand total of $7,427!
Adding to all of that, we had a diverse group of participants and volunteers in a beautiful park on a March morning in Portland, and it was all to grow stronger, live longer and defeat hunger together.
What’s more, with this single two-hour event, we achieved all five elements of happiness (sometimes referred to as the five pillars of a good life), according to Carl Jung: good health, good relations, seeing beauty in nature, satisfactory work and a resilience-building religious outlook.
Events like these must always put a smile on G-d’s face.
Dr. Jacob Sheff is president of the Men’s Club at Congregation Neveh Shalom in Portland, Ore., part of the Western Region of FJMC International.
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