Beth Jacob Sisterhood Present Police with Pastries
On Oct. 29, more than 60 synagogue members presented DeKalb County police officers with gifts of homemade pastries as a sign of gratitude.
Chana Shapiro is an educator, writer, editor and illustrator whose work has appeared in journals, newspapers and magazines. She is a regular contributor to the AJT.
On Sunday, Oct. 29, Congregation Beth Jacob Sisterhood spearheaded a group of more than 60 synagogue members who presented police officers of the DeKalb County Police Department with gifts of homemade pastries in gratitude for their increased vigilance and continued security following the massacre in Israel on Oct. 7. Gail Linder, Sisterhood president, coordinated the event.
Originally, a festive program, “An Enchanted Chocolate Evening,” was scheduled for Oct. 29. Linder and others had worked hard to plan and create the much-anticipated evening for women, but the terrorist attack in Israel caused the Beth Jacob congregation to focus on the situation in the Middle East; the mood for a program of fun immediately changed, and the scheduled Sisterhood event was indefinitely postponed.
Under Linder’s leadership, the Sisterhood looked for a suitable local project, subsequently deciding to invite Beth Jacob members to create homemade pastries and deliver the baked goods in person at the DeKalb County precinct station to thank police officers for their immediate and ongoing protection in the heavily Jewish Toco Hills neighborhood where Beth Jacob is located. They dubbed the project, “Pastries for Police.”
On Oct. 29, more than 60 Beth Jacob members drove to the DeKalb Police Precinct with their baked gifts to thank the officers. Linder and Helen Gerchikov transferred many of the home-baked goods into professional bakery boxes, creating a bakery-like display of treats, which ranged from cookies, muffins, cakes, and biscotti to police-themed cupcakes.
Linder described the experience, “We went to the precinct to express our thanks in person for the increased police presence and their critical support for our community. Kids from Torah Day School and girls from Temima High School joined in expressing gratitude by making posters and cards for the officers. During our visit, lively socializing and taking pictures with the police officers made the day memorable for all of us.”
comments