Home > Faith in Action > Charles S. Bresler Tikkun Olam Values (TOV) Fund
In 2013, Washington Hebrew Congregation established the Charles S. Bresler Tikkun Olam Values (TOV) Fund to make a positive difference in the lives of the underserved and underprivileged. Much of the TOV mission is about hands-on engagement and finding ways for WHC congregants to get involved in different missions. The Committee focuses primarily on ways to support the local community.
At the crossroads of creativity and compassion, TOV — the Hebrew word for “good” — supports and implements programs in pursuit of the prophetic vision of social justice: to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the disenfranchised.
Because of you, our social justice initiatives have grown into a powerful force for good. Since its inception, more than 3,500 donations totaling over $2.6 million have fueled food security, learning, and care across our DC community. Thank you for giving generously giving us your time and talent and living our values through countless volunteer hours.
Your commitment changes lives. We are grateful, today and every day, for all you make possible.
Unique to this event, WHC invites all our interfaith partners and community members to participate in a variety of service projects that support our shared community. It’s not uncommon for this event to draw 500 volunteers from churches, mosques, and local universities.
Every spring, hundreds of congregants demonstrate tikkun olam at Temple, JBSC, and throughout the area. Volunteers make thousands of various snacks and meals for non-profits serving those in need. Off-site projects have included park clean-ups, singing for and/or playing bingo with seniors, volunteering at soup kitchens, and many more over the years. In recent years, our members have built bookcases for the Bookshelf Project which get delivered to children participating in afterschool programs at Martha’s Table.
Over 150 volunteers come together every year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving for Sunday Stuffing. At this event’s signature “All the Fixin’s” project, we stuff 550 bags with ingredients needed to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner, including gift cards to the Giant grocery store. These bags are given to 250 families from the Abram Simon Elementary School in Washington D.C., plus more recipients including Nourish Now, So Others Might Eat (SOME), YWCA of the National Capital Area, and Friendship Place.
“Thank you so much for the “All the Fixin’s” bags we received for this Thanksgiving. Our clients are always grateful for the wonderful Fixins that Washington Hebrew Congregation provides.” — Alex Burch, N Street Village.
“Thank you so much for the “All the Fixin’s” bags we received for this Thanksgiving. Our clients are always grateful for the wonderful Fixins that Washington Hebrew Congregation provides.”
— Alex Burch, N Street Village.
For over 20 years, Washington Hebrew Congregation’s members have volunteered their time, enthusiasm, and financial support to the Abram Simon Elementary School, a public school in Southeast D.C. named after our second senior rabbi, Abram Simon. Currently, WHC funds the annual Math and Literacy Night dinner for 5th grade families, special events for teachers and staff, and the end of year celebration for students. Simon School is also a major recipient of many social action projects such as Sunday Stuffing’s “All the Fixin’s” and a school-wide book celebration for February’s “I Love Reading Month” that volunteers initiated at MLK Day of Service.
“THANK YOU ALL sooooo much for everything you do to help promote our mission and vision at Abram Simon Elementary School. We appreciate your partnership.” — Larniece Nelson
“THANK YOU ALL sooooo much for everything you do to help promote our mission and vision at Abram Simon Elementary School. We appreciate your partnership.”
— Larniece Nelson
The Bookshelf’s mission is to cultivate an early love for books, reading, and life-long learning from birth through age 8 by creating in-home libraries for children and improving access to culturally responsive books to support literacy attainment. Since 2023, WHC volunteers have built over 30 bookshelves for The Bookshelf Project and donated many books.
“As the Founder/CEO, it has been my vision to see the community come together to support the mission of The Bookshelf Project, Inc. Your donation truly means a lot and has touched my heart. Each one of these bookshelves will go to a deserving family along with the books. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!” — Ihkeem D. Ma’at, Founder/CEO, The Bookshelf Project, Inc.
“As the Founder/CEO, it has been my vision to see the community come together to support the mission of The Bookshelf Project, Inc. Your donation truly means a lot and has touched my heart. Each one of these bookshelves will go to a deserving family along with the books. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!”
— Ihkeem D. Ma’at, Founder/CEO, The Bookshelf Project, Inc.
In 1990, D.C. government officials called on the faith-based community to address family homelessness, drug addiction, and other social ailments plaguing communities. Rabbi Joseph Weinberg of beloved memory led Washington Hebrew Congregation in answering that call by conceiving of and providing the funding needed to establish the Carrie Simon House. For over 32 years, this transitional home provided vital individualized and whole-family support to more than 100 mothers and their children struggling with housing instability.
“When I left the Carrie Simon House, I didn’t leave empty. I left with skills, with a seed of hope, and a newfound sense of direction. Thank you for giving me a place to land, to grow and to dream again.” — Tasha D. Brooks, former Carrie Simon House resident and author of Cake Pop Confessions.
“When I left the Carrie Simon House, I didn’t leave empty. I left with skills, with a seed of hope, and a newfound sense of direction. Thank you for giving me a place to land, to grow and to dream again.”
— Tasha D. Brooks, former Carrie Simon House resident and author of Cake Pop Confessions.
Through the WHC in the DMV initiative, WHC members have come together to serve meals to the children and their families staying at the Inn while receiving treatment at NIH. This service gives families a night off to relax and enjoy their time together with a warm meal and often a craft for the children. We also give Kiddie Craft bags to the Inn that are assembled on Mitzvah Day. These bags go into the welcome box of each child staying at the Inn.
College Tracks and WHC have made a positive impact on the lives and futures of scholars who are in danger of being marginalized or kept out of the academic and economic pathways that they need and deserve. WHC’s collaboration promotes justice by introducing College Tracks scholars to networks, access, and support systems that other communities take for granted. WHC and College Tracks host two Career Networking events per year, engaging 36-40 students per year. At these events, the professionals (including program alumni and WHC congregants) interact with current students and share insights on their pathways.
Remarks made by scholars after a networking event in response to the question “what did you find most helpful?” students noted:
“We are deeply grateful to Washington Hebrew Congregation for your generous support through the Tikkun Olam Values (TOV) Fund grant. This investment will greatly strengthen our efforts to support scholars on their path to and through college. We look forward to collaborating on the upcoming Career Networking events this year.” — Jylise Smith, Director of Development, College Track USA
“We are deeply grateful to Washington Hebrew Congregation for your generous support through the Tikkun Olam Values (TOV) Fund grant. This investment will greatly strengthen our efforts to support scholars on their path to and through college. We look forward to collaborating on the upcoming Career Networking events this year.”
— Jylise Smith, Director of Development, College Track USA
Comfort Cases provides backpacks filled with comfort and personal items to children entering emergency foster care. Washington Hebrew makes “No-Sew Fleece” blankets throughout the year that are delivered to Comfort Cases and placed in the backpacks in hopes that they will offer the children and teens a small source of comfort at a very difficult time.
Friendship Place provides compassionate support and makes a difference in the lives of almost 4,000 people experiencing homelessness, including over 600 children. Their programs empower participants to rebuild their lives, find homes, get jobs, and reconnect with friends, family, and the community permanently. They are a frequent recipient of WHC social action projects and collections and were the host of the Winter Warmth event until it ended in 2019.
“Washington Hebrew Congregation has been an invaluable partner to Friendship Place consistently demonstrating their unwavering support through their yearly collections of winter coats, blankets, toiletries, and snacks. The annual Sunday Stuffing “All the Fixin’s” volunteer day, where they assemble grocery bags filled with canned goods and Giant gift cards for turkeys, ensures that our community has everything needed for a complete and joyous Thanksgiving meal. For all that WHC has done, it was named a proud recipient of the Benjamin Cooper Award from Friendship Place in 2017.”
— Chris Rutledge, Vice President, External Affairs
Through the Good Neighbors Initiative, WHC supported a newly arrived refugee family from Afghanistan as they resettled in the D.C. area, helping secure housing and furniture, and assisting with registration for schooling and job searches.
The WHC Hunger Project is working hard to reduce the number of households in D.C. that do not have access to nutritionally adequate food. To date, our monthly food packing events have produced nearly 2,000,000 meals.
Adults, children, individuals, families, and groups don hairnets, gloves, and aprons, and carefully measure and package ingredients that become over 10,000 nutritious meals for the underserved in our area. Our packing events are tikkun olam at its very heart, and the meals we pack are on people’s tables within a week.
Interfaith Works provides emergency shelter, supportive housing, essential needs, and employment programs to over 35,000 residents of Montgomery County, MD, every year. While Montgomery County is considered affluent, more than 72,000 residents live on incomes below the Federal poverty line. Over the years, WHC has collected clothing, shoes and donated trail mix and sandwiches to IW. We also served dinner to IW’s New Leaf shelter residents on Mitzvah Day.
[Authors Ali] Kamanda and Jorge Redmond were masters of capturing these students into the magic of reading and storytelling. They had a special ability to see each student individually and affirm them naturally and joyfully. Students left the space dreaming about what they would like to be one day with the knowledge that so many others had succeeded before them. When one young girl left the room, she ran over and hugged the librarian. She exclaimed, “I love the library!” in a loud and infectious voice. — Kathie Weinberg, Library Consultant, Library of Congress Young Readers Center and Program Coordinator, An Open Book
[Authors Ali] Kamanda and Jorge Redmond were masters of capturing these students into the magic of reading and storytelling. They had a special ability to see each student individually and affirm them naturally and joyfully. Students left the space dreaming about what they would like to be one day with the knowledge that so many others had succeeded before them. When one young girl left the room, she ran over and hugged the librarian. She exclaimed, “I love the library!” in a loud and infectious voice.
— Kathie Weinberg, Library Consultant, Library of Congress Young Readers Center and Program Coordinator, An Open Book
Over the past three years, WHC has partnered with Undies for Everyone to provide over 10,000 pairs of underwear to in-need children in Washington, D.C. in coordination with Martha’s Outfitters, an outlet that provides free clothing to families. At all of WHC’s major social action events including Sunday Stuffing, MLK Day of Service, and Mitzvah Day, our volunteers roll undies into baggies for toddlers and children to receive. Laura Grossman, Martha’s Outfitters Store Manager, expressed her gratitude and explained that “the undies go to some of the 12,000 individuals her program serves in Ward 8.”
“We know that kids who don’t have underwear may not show up to school because they are too embarrassed, which could lead to them dropping out. We want kids to stay confident and stay in school.” explained Rabbi Amy Weiss, Founder of UFE. “It’s a matter of dignity and privacy, and that is the most important thing. What we are doing is tikkun olam in a very unique way, and that is changing lots and lots of lives.”
Friendship Place hosted this event at WHC, transporting over 100 homeless and impoverished clients to Temple, where they chose clothing for a winter wardrobe, got fitted for new winter boots, and received free haircuts and hot meals. This event was discontinued when Friendship Place reorganized their donation procedures in 2020, but WHC continues to support Friendship Place by providing most needed items requested by the organization.
