Our Social Action Committee leads our Tikkun Olam efforts through programs, fundraisers, and hands-on projects. Supported by the Louis and Bettye Kaplan Fund and lobby donations, we aid organizations fighting poverty and hunger while supporting Jewish causes and environmental health. We invite all CEC members to roll up their sleeves and join us in this vital work, explore current opportunities below.
We support people experiencing homelessness by volunteering and cooking for DuPage Pads‘s dedicated facility, which provides this vulnerable population with nourishing, hot meals and a safe, warm place to sleep. We are proud to do this work in partnership with local churches St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Villa Park, York Center of the Brethren, Christ the King, Lombard Mennonite, and Lombard Christian Reformed.
If you’re interested in participating, be it as a volunteer or to donate, reach out to the Social Action Committee.
In addition to our regular work volunteer efforts with DuPage Pads, we also:
• Donating food and money to the People’s Resource Center, a food and clothing pantry that also provides job skills training in Wheaton
• Furnishing apartments for Pads clients who are moving into their own spaces
• Supporting Walk-In Ministries, a service that provides emergency assistance to people in need.
• Delivering Rosh Hashanah and Passover baskets to local Jews in need through Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago.
For certain CEC high school students, we defray the cost of L’Taken, a program in Washington D.C. that brings together diverse groups of 10th-12th graders from around the country to explore public policy and social activism through a Jewish lens.
We sponsor Mitzvah Day, where congregants take action directly by participating in projects to benefit people in need.
We provide networking opportunities for people seeking employment.
We host panel discussions on topics of local interest.
Through our membership in DuPage United, we ensure government funding in DuPage County for causes representing our congregants’ values, with special emphasis on health, housing, education, and jobs.
DuPage United is an inclusive, fiercely non-partisan non-profit organization whose members are civil society institutions: churches, mosques, synagogues, non-profit agencies, and associations. The alliance forms public relationships and acts together to improve the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities.
Congregation Etz Chaim is one of the founding members of DuPage United. Our leadership recognized long ago the need to actively engage with our neighbors for social justice. CEC continues to play a strong leadership role among the dozens of member churches, mosques, secular non-profit agencies, and associations.
At Congregation Etz Chaim, we promote an open dialogue with friends and neighbors of different faiths to foster positive relationships. We do so through community outreach events that develop mutual respect and understanding within our diverse faith community.
We also promote positive relationships within our walls, dubbed “in-reach.” We want our interfaith families to feel welcomed and comfortable so we actively host events for them as well.
We partner with a community solar farm to offset 100% of our carbon footprint. By participating in this program, we help fund local solar projects without requiring the installation of panels on our property. We also installed an electric vehicle charging station in our parking lot. This charger is now available on a first-come, first-serve basis with tap-to-pay. Through these initiatives, we’re fulfilling our commitment to tikkun olam by supporting clean, renewable energy that benefits both our community and the planet. Our congregation’s dedication to environmental stewardship reflects our values of responsibility and care for future generations.
We bolster other Jewish organizations through our support of the Jewish United Fund (JUF), for which we host an annual brunch and speaker fundraiser.
We champion acceptance at CEC, and, in that spirit, we sponsor a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. program every year to foster discussion on civil rights and issues faced by Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
We sponsor local forest preserves and prairie path clean-ups and regularly hold recycling drives to help heal and repair the environment. When natural disaster strikes, we are quick to respond by coordinating donations to help impacted communities.
