 Many people have by now seen or heard of the movie, The Blind Side. Well, we don’t expect anyone to make a movie out of our story, but we’d still like to share our experience about how we came to “adopt” a couple of residents from the Sydney and Sarah J. Brown Home and how much it has meant to our family. A few years ago, Sarah Roark, from our synagogue, Congregation Beth El in Bethesda, sent out a request asking for families to host residents from one of the area Jewish Foundation for Group Homes for Passover. Our family was delighted to have a couple of group home residents attend our Seder. It was such a positive experience, we offered to again host some group home residents the following year and we enjoyed having four different guests (along with a couple of counselors) join us for Seder. This has now turned into a family tradition where each year we look forward to having some residents join us for our Seder which has added so much to our family’s Passover experience.
Over the last couple of years, we decided that we should do more. Linda Yitzchak, the Chaplain and Volunteer Administrator for the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, identified Miriam, one of our Passover guests, who did not have any family to care for her and visit her. We began to have Miriam over roughly once a month for Shabbat. After a couple of months, Mackie, one of Miriam’s co-residents at the Sydney and Sarah J. Brown Home, was also left without any immediate family when her father passed away, so she began to join us as well. Miriam and Mackie are now like part of our extended family, joining us on Shabbat, the High Holidays, Passover and Thanksgiving. Other residents continue to join us for Passover, Thanksgiving and Rosh Hashanah as well. Hosting the women from the Brown Home for the Jewish and secular holidays and now having Miriam and Mackie as part of our “extended family” has been a blessing in so many ways. These women have touched our hearts and souls! They have given levity to situations and added meaning to the holidays and Shabbat. You never know what will happen at a holiday dinner with the members of the Brown house, but you can bet that everyone leaves our home with a smile. We feel very lucky to have made the connection with the Brown Home and really appreciate Linda Yitzchak’s assistance in helping to foster this relationship. I believe that Miriam and Mackie truly enjoy being part of our home for Shabbat and other festivities and love interacting with our family and friends. I’m sure, however, that this experience has given us even more than it has given them. It has taught my children acceptance, kindness and patience and helps us all to realize how truly fortunate we are and how easy it is to bring some happiness to those who are less fortunate. This story was contributed by Becky Vogel and her family. If you have any stories from volunteering with JFGH that you would like to share please send them to info@jfgh.org.
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