![\"\"](\"http:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/AsherLichtman-ChallahCandlesDelivery-April2021-300x225.jpg\")
Keeping COVID-19 safety measures in mind, he, his son, and four other pairs have been dropping off challah and candles to 20 people each week since February. But Asher hopes to expand their reach, and is dreaming about a larger goal.<\/p>\nThanks to a new initiative spearheaded by two Circle of Care volunteers, Jewish clients are able to celebrate Shabbat with challah bread and candles each week. The initiative, dubbed Shabbat Chesed by creator Asher Lichtman, involves the delivery of the bread and two candles to clients prior to Shabbat on Friday evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a glow on their faces when you knock on their doors and say \u2018I have challah and candles to make a more meaningful Shabbat.\u2019 They\u2019re touched and appreciative \u2013 it becomes the highlight of their day,\u201d Asher said.<\/p>\n
Asher and his son started volunteering with Circle of Care after receiving an email about volunteer opportunities. They delivered Purim boxes to clients in February, and after seeing the deep connection that Circle of Care had with the community, they continued to volunteer with us.<\/p>\n
The Shabbat Chesed initiative grew out of the passion and involvement Asher saw from the young boys in his son\u2019s Bar Mitzvah program. He started to gather volunteers by reaching out to the other members of the program.<\/p>\n
Asher obtains the challah and candles through The Village Shul, a synagogue based in Toronto. Through this initiative, he hopes to bring more meaning to the Shabbat table by connecting and giving back to the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping to make this as far-reaching as I can, because I think it has a huge impact,\u201d Asher said.<\/p>\n
Keeping COVID-19 safety measures in mind, he, his son, and four other pairs have been dropping off challah and candles to 20 people each week since February. But Asher hopes to expand their reach, and is dreaming about a larger goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we could hit 100 homes a week \u2013 that would be phenomenal,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, I don\u2019t want us to spread ourselves too thin.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, two more father and son pairs are participating, and they plan to reach 10 additional clients.<\/p>\n
In working with The Village Shul and Circle of Care, the Shabbat Chesed program will continue to give our clients challah and candles until the end of the school year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a great relationship and partnership that ultimately enables and cultivates the notion of giving back and being able to pay it forward \u2013 that to me, means a lot,\u201d Asher said.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Thanks to a new initiative spearheaded by two Circle of Care volunteers, Jewish clients are able to celebrate Shabbat with challah bread and candles each week. The initiative, dubbed Shabbat Chesed by creator Asher Lichtman, involves the delivery of the bread and two candles to clients prior to Shabbat on Friday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-updates"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1391,"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions\/1391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volunteer.circleofcare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nVolunteers are at the core of Circle of Care. We greatly appreciate and value the hard work of each of our volunteers, especially those who continue to help out during this difficult time. To learn more about volunteering at Circle of Care visit\u00a0www.circleofcare.com\/volunteer<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"