Challah for Hunger

What a semester it has been for Challah for Hunger! Our organization has gone through some massive changes this semester, and it is clear that we are only growing stronger as time passes.

A little bit of background: for those of you who aren't familiar with the group, Challah for Hunger is a national non-profit organization that brings people together to bake and sell challah with the goal of raising money and awareness for social justice issues. Chapters around the world operate weekly, baking and selling their homemade loaves of challah, often in creative flavors like chocolate chip, rosemary garlic, cinnamon sugar, pumpkin spice, and pesto parmesean--the possibilities are endless! Each chapter donates 50% of its profits to the American Jewish World Service in Sudan, and chooses local organizations to support with the other half of its profits.

Emory's program has going strong for four years, and during that time has raised more than $6000 for genocide relief in Darfur and for refugees coming to Atlanta through the Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA). Challah for Hunger provides opportunities to be involved in a fun and dedicated community, address humanitarian problems, develop and practice new skills like baking and marketing, gain business and leadership experience, engage in traditions of challah and tzedakah, become involved in advocacy and other forms of activism, and more!

As Emory's Challah for Hunger president for the past three years, I have seen our small, grass-roots organization with infinite potential grow into something truly meaningful. Our operations were greatly strengthened this year by a generous grant from Emory's Hillel for myself and my co-president, Nick Thompson, to attend the Challah for Hunger Leadership Summit in Austin, Texas. There, we learned such extremely valuable skills as volunteer management, sales strategies, and kitchen safety tips. All in all, it was an incredibly enriching experience that also allowed us to connect to the vibrant, international CfH network. We came back from the Summit inspired, refreshed, and ready for a great semester-- and what a great semester it has been!

Since September of 2011 alone, Emory's chapter has been able to sell over four hundred challah, and raise nearly $2,000 for genocide relief and refugee resettlement. We have never made so much in one semester, so we really must congratulate all of our amazing, hard-working volunteers and executive board members for making this happen. We were also able, through the leadership of our advocacy manager Raphaelle King-Houis, to expand our advocacy efforts to our sales table and to our volunteers. We now have a weekly fact sheet with updates from the Darfur region for distribution at our table, and we were able to hold a meaningful event at the Breman Holocaust Museum and Genocide Prevention Institute for a day of reflection on what we can further do to prevent the atrocities of genocide. We will continue to have advocacy events throughout the Spring semester, and hope to partner with other campus organizations to continue to raise awareness.

Challah for Hunger has had an incredible semester, and we are looking forward to all that 2012 holds for us. Huge thanks again to our wonderful volunteers-- we could not have done it without you!!

Peace, love, and challah,

Liz

If you are interested in volunteering with Challah for Hunger (we welcome people of all baking backgrounds, whether you have lots of experience or none at all!), please contact Elizabeth Smulian or Nicholas Thompson through Learnlink. They can also be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .