I have been rather busy with developing and improving our online store. Although I have more work to do, yesterday was an important reminder of the need for a post on this site. A post to invite you, our readers to become a part of spreading the light. What does light have to do with our store? That is a great question.
You might well ask:
- what light are we spreading
- what was yesterday and
- how do we become involved?
Let’s take the first question first.
What light are we spreading?
This website is the sister site of Chessed Ve’Emet. At Chessed Ve’Emet we are all about sharing the beauty of Torah and Acts of Loving Kindness. Our major kindness project is developing a service to empower widows and orphans in Jerusalem. It is quite an undertaking and we have a long way to go to reach our goal. So the light that we enjoy to share and to spread is the light of the Torah which is shared through education and acts of kindness.
What was yesterday?
In the secular calendar, yesterday was father’s day. Father’s Day has been hard for me for over 34 years. It’s not easy to celebrate Father’s Day when your father is not in this world. Over the years, I began to work on how to do something meaningful in his merit, making every day my personal Father’s Day, in a way. My work developing a service to empower widows and orphans is in the merit of my late father, Nathan Gershon ben Nathan, who was born an orphan and died tragically when I was still at school.
Actually, I had no idea that Father’s Day was creeping up until Tuesday or Wednesday of last week when I noticed mention about it in a video related to developing an online store. Oh no! I missed out on bringing traffic to my store for a day that people love to buy gifts. Come to think of it though, I don’t really have gifts that are suitable for Dads or Father’s day. At least not yet!
Something to work towards I guess. That got me thinking though, what kind of gift is suitable for those who, like me, have their father in the world to come? I had ideas that I wanted to work on but the day kind of slipped by.
Then, just as the day was drawing to an end, I met someone who reminded me of the importance of the work that I am setting up. I met a young mother who is orphaned from both of her parents. She is an only child and as a result does not have immediate family for support.
This young mother was grateful for her husband and his family but is still grappling with how to take care of her two toddlers. She years for her own mother to turn to for advice. She years for a way to help her eldest, her first born. But what can she do?
You see, her first born has hearing loss and developmental problems as a result. She is doing all that she can and has been recommended to take her son for OT, PT and Speech Therapy. Her problem is, there is a very long waiting list for these evaluations through the national health. She would love to go privately but how can she with earning a minimum wage and no family to turn to for help.
I thought of the service I am developing and decided to bring the story to our readers. So hear is where you get to be involved.
How do you get involved?
Currently, the orphans we have been assisting have mostly been at the time of getting married. That was how I met this young mother as she was interested to know what items we collect and particularly interested to hear why we only give brand new items to the orphans we assist. To the orphans at the time of getting married, that is. I then mentioned another young mother we had assisted with previously-loved toys in excellent condition to enable her new baby to have some stimulation.
This is what got our latest young mother sharing her story and her struggles. Her story reminded me of the insight I have gained from my own life. The realization of how hard it can be without immediate family to offer support. Even practically to babysit while the young mom takes her first born to the evaluations he requires.
How can you get involved? What does this have to do with you? Well, we have two options set up for you. You can become a member of this website. We have several levels available each of them with ways to help women at various stages to become a happy fulfilled mother. The next is to purchase a gift or commission a gift from our online store. A percentage of the proceeds of many items goes towards our widows and orphans. As sales increase, we aim to add more products to those dedicated for this special purpose.
If you do not find a gift that you like or need, you are welcome to be in touch. We are constantly creating new items and gifts. You can also purchase a gift voucher. Lastly, you can sponsor an evaluation of this little boy. I might not be able to do the full eval, since I am not a PT or a Speechie, but I am an occupational therapist and have worked in schools and developmental clinics. I work privately and am not able to offer a professional service for free. However, every paid member of this site stands to contribute towards part of the eval, with the mother paying a co-pay that she can afford. It’s not something I do for all my clients but only those who fit into the needs of this special service that we are developing.
So what do you say? How about partnering with us to help widows and orphans to fulfill their life role of wives and mothers to the extent that they too can be happy. After all, what better gift can one give to a father who is not in this world than to assist the next generation?