Volunteer and Old York Road Temple Beth Am
member Arthur Davis, who has been volunteering
at the JRA warehouse for 15 years
and has been showing up ever since. He’s a believer
in the work JRA does, but he’s a bigger believer in the
volunteers. Before COVID, Davis recalled attending a
Sunday packing day with over 1,100 volunteers.

Even as JRA tries to recruit more help, Davis
believes in the power of showing up. He marveled at
the stacks of assembled boxes lining the warehouse
walls, singing the praises of the campers who spent
the day assembling them.

“If you bring yourself, and you bring family mem-
bers, especially bringing children, they learn, ‘What
is this all about?’” Davis said. “Th en that’s what
makes the world a better place. Because that becomes
something that becomes instinctive to people, and
that’s what helps these kinds of things to grow.”
Mee ting People Where They’re At
Th e JRA offi ce adjacent to the warehouse is no less
quiet than the warehouse. Behind the front desk,
JRA staff are blowing up beach balls and infl atable
palm trees.

“We’re doing theme distributions for the summer
months,” said Volunteer Program Manager Jenny
Rubin. So this month is ‘Beach Day at JRA’…It boosts
morale; it gives us an opportunity to be a little silly
and play around during the summer.”
Having themed volunteer days on Sunday is just a
small part of Rubin’s work to engage JRA volunteers.

Low volunteer numbers have been a nationwide
problem exacerbated by the pandemic, Rubin said.

“Everyone had a long, hard look at their priorities,
and a lot of their habits also changed during the pan-
demic,” she said. “We’re serving more people than we
were previously, with half or even fewer than half of
18 JULY 14, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
the [volunteers] we’ve had previously.”
JRA has relied largely on word-of-mouth to gener-
ate greater volunteer turnout. Th ey reach out to syn-
agogues, summer camps, professional development
groups, schools and college Greek life to see if they’d
be interested in volunteering.

While Rubin’s work is ongoing, the reimagined
volunteer schedule has helped better accommodate
volunteers who want to keep showing up. Now that
volunteer days are held for an entire week rather than
only Sunday prior to the pandemic, summer camps
are able to schedule private packing days; retired
folks enjoy coming in on the weekdays when the
warehouse is less crowded.

Instead of just schmoozing, eating a bagel and
packing a couple boxes during volunteer hours, peo-
ple come ready to work.

“Th ough we have fewer people in the space, we
are able to get so much done,” Rubin said. “Everyone
who comes leaves feeling really accomplished because
they’re doing more physical labor throughout the day.”
In particular, Orthodox community members may
have diff erent dietary needs than the rest of JRA’s
population. It’s Steinerman’s job to speak with clients,
including Orthodox community members, to address
their needs.

But along with food and additional supplies, JRA
also provides clients with an intangible gift : mean-
ingful human interaction.

For older community members isolated by the
pandemic, a box of goods accompanied by a quick
chat lift s spirits substantially.

Elvera Gurevich, JRA’s director of communications
and technology, fi nds this element of working at JRA
the most rewarding. A fi rst generation Ukrainian
immigrant, Gurevich personally relates to many of
JRA’s clients.

“Had there been a JRA when my parents fi rst came
here, we would have been getting boxes of food,” she
said. “I could really empathize and see myself in that,
so that’s what attracted me to the agency.”
Th ough not a large part of Gurevich’s job, she still
enjoys delivering boxes — sometimes only one or two
— to clients each month.

“Th at just like helps me stay motivated, too, because
I get really focused on logistics and effi ciency and
operations,” Gurevich said. “It’s a nice reminder of
‘Who are we helping? What are we really doing here?’”
Last month, Gurevich delivered a box to a Russian-
speaker who was eager to speak with her, asking her
where she was from, how she knew how to speak Russian.

“I was able to just chat with her for fi ve minutes,”
Gurevich said. “And you could see her face just
light up.” JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Clients with Diverse Nee ds
As Rubin works to expand JRA’s volunteer base, Program
Specialist Rachel Steinerman works to engage JRA’s cli-
ent base, especially in the Orthodox community.

“JRA has grown so much, and we help anybody
who comes to us, who asks us for help, as long as
they’re within our delivery area,” Steinerman said.

“But as those Jewish clients have aged, and unfor-
tunately passed away, we started an initiative with
our Jewish community outreach to reach every sin-
gle Jewish family — since we are the Jewish Relief
Agency — for anybody who needs our services.”
JRA staff preparing for the “Beach Day at JRA”
themed distribution