Newsletter February 2025: Welcoming Neighbors

Last month the 10.27 Healing Partnership staff utilized the Jewish Community Center’s new policy of volunteer time off to volunteer for Hello Neighbor, a local organization that supports incoming refugees and immigrants and helps them make Pittsburgh their home.

On Jan. 31st we helped staff prepare an apartment for a Sudanese family who had been temporarily placed in a hotel after spending years in a refugee camp. At this stage the work that needed to be done was concrete and visible; we helped unpack cars, clean floors, set up beds, put together tables. But as the day progressed we could glimpse the infrastructure of helping hands that preceded this moment—Hello Neighbor staff and volunteers interfacing with landlords, filling trucks, locating furniture and lamps, and planning out the next steps where the families could receive support with taxes, childcare, and language skills.

I’m glad we were able to utilize this new JCC volunteer time off policy and I’m grateful for the time we got to spend volunteering. It reminded me of the long chain of those who put in energy and care to aid some of the most vulnerable people in the world, the number of people needed to get that family to the place where they were moving into their new home. It’s an intricate chain; from the hyper-local to the international, people do care and they do spring into action for others. Until you’re able to see it in action, it seems almost invisible. Through volunteering and adding your hands to the process, all that work becomes more legible and clear.

I invite you to join in that process. Hello Neighbor, Jewish Family Community Services, and other nonprofit organizations are currently overburdened with need. There are multiple opportunities for individuals to help, including:

Attending Hello Neighbor’s virtual volunteering open house this Saturday, Feb. 22nd, or future open houses offered twice a month

Supporting JFCS’s refugee and immigrant resettlement through volunteering or donating to support families throughout the end of winter

Casa San Jose is holding a webinar for faith leaders from all religions on protecting immigrant rights and demonstrating your compassion towards your immigrant community. Register for the webinar by clicking here or learn more about their general volunteering opportunities here.

I encourage you to also show warmth to our friends and colleagues at these nonprofits who have been tirelessly working through uncertain times. A rising tide lifts all boats; the more we can act in small ways to support our neighbors, the better our community is both for those who have lived here for generations and those who will come to make it their new home.

In Solidarity,
Maggie Feinstein