Beleck and Hollander receive BBBI President’s Awards for their leadership

Marvin Beleck and Rich Hollander of the Isadore Garsek Lodge of B’nai B’rith were among the 30 leaders who were honored with the first President’s Awards at B’nai B’rith International’s Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., last month. The award was given for “doing heavy lifting for the B’nai B’rith in their communities,” said B’nai B’rith International President Chuck Kaufman.
“These are volunteers who do work without seeking recognition. They do the work just because it’s simply the B’nai B’rith thing to do. They did great work during the past 12 months. They had a great year,” Kaufman added.

Be prepared to act in case of active shooter

Tarrant County synagogues are working together to provide security awareness training at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, at Beth-El Congregation in Fort Worth, 4900 Briarhaven Road.
You’ll learn what to do if you’re caught in an active shooter situation at work, shopping, restaurant, movie theater or even at services.
The workshop will led by Daniel Sherwin of Sherwin Safety Consultants. They conduct life-saving seminars for businesses and houses of worship and teach preparedness and survival techniques and tactics to help you make decisions that may save your life.
The Jewish community training is presented by the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County in cooperation with the Safety and Security teams at Congregation Ahavath Sholom, Congregation Beth Israel, Congregation Beth Shalom and Beth-El Congregation.
It’s open to the entire community and is free. No need to RSVP. Just come to Beth-El for the 90-minute training session. It will be followed by a short breakout group for each synagogue.
You will leave with a common-sense plan for you and your family during the important first minutes of an incident before police arrive.
For more information, contact Jim Stanton at 817-307-9167 or Daniel Sherwin at 682-203-6486

B’nai B’rith Christmas Day tradition

Once again on Christmas, Jewish volunteers will serve meals and provide gifts for the homeless in Fort Worth.
Organized by B’nai B’rith, 60-70 volunteers show up every year from Congregation Ahavath Sholom, Congregation Beth Israel and Beth-El Congregation, to work together to help the homeless.
B’nai B’rith has a good supply of toys, but needs donated new clothes such as overcoats, socks, sweatshirts, underwear, gloves, caps, shirts, etc. for men and women. Large, extra-large and extra-extra-large are always in short supply. Drop off your donations in the collection boxes at the three participating synagogues.
If you are looking for an all-ages volunteer activity, you can participate at Beautiful Feet Ministries, a Christian mission that serves the poor and the needy on Christmas Day when volunteers take over to cook and serve a hot breakfast and a hot lunch, and distribute toys, clothing and toiletries. This project allows the mission staff to spend Christmas at home with their families.
Because of this project, 125-150 homeless clients have their day brightened when the Tarrant County Jewish community works side-by-side to help those in need.
Volunteers sort, package and deliver the gifts. Children are particularly helpful because they are able to tell adults which toys are most appropriate for kids their age. And it provides an opportunity for them to see the importance of helping others.
The gift distribution team starts at 9 a.m. on Christmas Day and is finished around 1 p.m., leaving plenty of time for Chinese and a movie.
Beautiful Feet is located at 1709 E. Hattie St. in Fort Worth. No need to register; just show up. If you have questions, contact Jim Stanton at 817-307-9167.