Caring Community
- About KAMII
KAM Isaiah Israel is a welcoming community of committed individuals. One of the ways that we express the central Jewish values of our community is by caring for our members. We are ready to reach out in all sorts of ways to people who are in need through visits from congregants and clergy, follow-up phone calls, coordinating transportation to doctor’s visits, and providing a hot meal.
Caring Committee
The first priority of the Caring Committee is to help congregants who are ill or need support. It is a mitzvah to respond actively to those who want our assistance. We work closely with the clergy and staff who provide us with names and information about what role we should play. And if we hear through other channels that someone might appreciate our services, we call and ask how we can help.
Our assistance includes cooking and delivering meals, preparing care packages, visiting, phoning, transporting, and even grocery shopping for the housebound. We also offer shiva assistance, such as preparing food and providing set up. We developed a “caring community” list of about 50 members who do not want to come to meetings but are willing to help us by baking, cooking and delivering a few times a year.
Another important commitment is to let congregants know that we care about them during happy occasions. It is a pleasure to celebrate simchas such as anniversaries, birthdays, births, and weddings. We bake and deliver cakes and/or flowers to couples who have been married at least 35 years and thereafter at five year intervals, send cards for special birthdays, and give small gifts for births and weddings.
A Caring Committee member commented on her experience delivering freshly baked lasagna to a congregant who had just returned home from the hospital. “It was such a pleasure to meet and chat with this vivacious and delightful person.” The recipient of this meal also expressed her pleasure. “I have no family in Chicago. Thanks to the Caring Committee, I felt that I am part of a caring, larger community-the KAMII family. These comments reveal a bit of what we do and the satisfaction that we feel when we do it.
Anyone who would like to join our committee or our list of caring community volunteers is heartily welcome.