Project H.O.P.E. — Helping Our People Everywhere — is a community action project whose major goal is the collection and distribution of food packages to poor and elderly Jews during Passover. Many Jews who cannot afford special holiday foods depend on B'nai B'rith members to provide matzoh and the other Passover staples. To these people the remembrance is often as special as the needed food.
Project H.O.P.E. works with the community family service agencies and local Jewish social services and with B'nai B'rith members and synagogue volunteers. Jewish organizations provide the lists of people who need packages and the facilities for collecting, storing, and packing the food. B'nai B'rith volunteers assemble and deliver the packages. Begun in New York, the program has spread to Boston, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
2010 Program
The ritual foods of Passover are out of reach for far too many Jews in need every year. That’s when B’nai B’rith International’s Project H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People Everywhere) steps in to provide Passover meals to elderly Jews and Jews in need in several Northeast cities.
B’nai B’rith program organizers and volunteers came together in Philadelphia, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and the New York metro area. Volunteers performed such tasks as packing the food, breaking down boxes for recycling, loading cars, and, of course, delivering the care packages. For the recipients, many of whom live alone, the food deliveries also provided a welcome bit of company during the holiday.
“Project H.O.P.E. provides a wonderful opportunity for people to come to the aid of those less fortunate who live in their own communities,” said B’nai B’rith International President Dennis W. Glick.
Project H.O.P.E. is a vital B’nai B’rith program, which has built on its Brooklyn, N.Y. roots and has expanded to other major population centers in the Northeast during its more than three-and-a-half decades.
“This program brings hope to those in unfortunate circumstances and connects them with the Jewish people, which is the main focus of Passover,” said B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin.
In the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., volunteers delivered Passover food to 41 families, and 120 people in total, on March 21.
“Families recently arrived from countries where borders change daily and Jews are less safe than anyone else,” said Barbara Brenman, coordinator of the project. “We helped, we did it, we brought Passover to all of them. However temporary, we took their thoughts away from their situations.”
To get involved, for the 2011 program, contact B’nai B’rith’s Center for Community Action at 212-490-3290 or email cca@bnaibrith.org. It’s not too late to donate. Checks can be made payable to B’nai B’rith International and sent to B’nai B’rith Project H.O.P.E., 801 Second Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, N.Y., 10017. Donors can indicate the region they would like to receive their donation.
Project H.O.P.E. — Helping Our People Everywhere — is a community action project whose major goal is the collection and distribution of food packages to poor and elderly Jews during Passover. Many Jews who cannot afford special holiday foods depend on B'nai B'rith members to provide matzoh and the other Passover staples. To these people the remembrance is often as special as the needed food. 
