Sharing of ideas for recruiting new Tahara volunteers

[Linda Goodspeed]

We are a small Hevra north of Boston, currently with 37 active volunteers. We need more volunteers. We offer both info sessions (general discussion in person and on zoom) and in person trainings at the funeral home. Getting people to attend is the issue of course. 

We have done these things to date:

1. Spoken with Rabbi/Clergy group to encourage them to mention tahara to their members
   
2. Shared flyers with Clergy so they can display them at shuls and include them in their newsletters
   
3. Reached out to local Rabbinic College 
   
4. Reached out to local Hillel college groups 
   
5. Posted and offered info session at local JCC
   
6. Spoken with some shul cemetery committees about the hevra
   
7. Spoke at all shuls during their services, adult education and to religious schools
   
8. Post at JCCs and local kosher deli
   
9. Write articles for local Jewish Journal newspaper 
   
10. Used Facebook closed group to promote events
    

How do you reach the unaffiliated Jews? Where do your volunteers come from? Many of ours come from discussions with their Rabbi. 

Thank you for your help and ideas. 

[Regina Sandler-Phillips]

Dear Linda and All:

Here's my "Torah on one foot" of sacred fellowship outreach, as 7 Adar approaches: Seven Steps to Sacred Fellowship

I believe strongly in leading with sh'mirah / vigil-keeping, which is how our ~70-volunteer hevra developed more than two decades ago. All the hevra volunteers are vigil-keepers (of whom about one-third are also taharah team members), and some have recruited their teenagers to sit with them. 

Since this is a more accessible and less daunting form of sacred fellowship service, it encourages more “civilians” to join the ranks — and, over time (having grown comfortable with the funeral home basement), more vigil-keepers step up to join the taharah team.

With many blessings for Shabbat Shalom and beyond,

Regina

Rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips, MSW, MPH

WAYS OF PEACE Community Resources

In cities of diversity...we organize ourselves and our money...

and visit the sick...and bury the dead...and console the bereaved...

for these are WAYS OF PEACE." —Jerusalem Talmud (~400 CE)

[Elizabeth Feldman]

Wow Linda, you have done so much in your recruiting efforts! 

The only things I can add:

1) Presenting to conversion classes - in our experience in Chicago, 'new Jews' find chevra volunteering to be something they feel comfortable doing. Of course, having the rabbi or teacher of the class promoting the concept helps a lot!

2) Finding one or 2 millennials or Gen X-ers to engage and promote it within their demographic circles, like during a Shavuot tikkun or High Holidays (my daughter Leah, a chevra member, taught at her chavurah's last tikkun)

4) Presenting to the local Avodah alumni network (my daughter is an Avodah alum and just did a CK training here in Chicago. She could probably do one on Zoom for Boston folks if there's not a Boston person to do it)

5) Cosponsoring a conversation about Jewish end-of-life with Shomer Collective or Death Over Dinner people

6) Continuing to present annually at several of the places you have been.

7) Are there more folks from the Boston Community Hevra who live nearby where you do your taharas, who would be willing to join both?

8) In Chicago we have 6 congregations who actually are members of our community chevra, and reps from each one are responsible for engaging with their own community and bringing new people in. That way it is a known,familiar face teaching, not an outsider.....

I don't know if any of these will be helpful! Good luck!
Take care,

Liz

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chevra Kadisha Conversations" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ckconversatio...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ckconversations/ef57e3c1-eb8f-4009-aa57-1d74328233d2n%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Liz Feldman, MD (she/her)

Evanston, Illinois

[Linda Goodspeed]

Tysm Liz, this is all fantastic