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Challah for a dolla resumes at UMass
Elizabeth Hawley, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News
In September 2006, Mara Seidel, the Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow at Hillel House, decided to sell extra loaves of Challah bread that were left over from a Jewish Women's Collective night.
Seidel said she read about a group in California selling Challah for Hunger and decided to edit that idea for the University of Massachusetts campus. Selling the Challah for $1 in the Campus Center, Hillel sold all 24 of their extra loaves in one day.
This was the start of Challah for a Dolla, now a regular fundraiser at the Hillel House. All money raised goes to the American Jewish World Services (AJWS) and specifically to their Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund. According to Seidel, Bill Clinton praised Hillel's Challah for a Dolla program in a speech he gave at the AJWS "Partners in Global Justice" conference on June 13.
For the first time this semester, the University's MassPIRG chapter will be collaborating with Hillel on this program. Beginning this week, the MassPIRG Darfur Campaign will be volunteering alongside Hillel House volunteers to bake the challah and to sell it in the Campus Center.
"We're both working to end the genocide in Darfur," said MassPIRG Darfur Campaign co-coordinator and UMass sophmore Yasmin Abbayad about the collaborative efforts of MassPIRG and Hillel. "This is one way that we can work together for a good cause. Two groups are better than one."
The first joint bake-off occurred Oct. 21. For seven hours, volunteers working in shifts made the dough, braided it and baked, working on other Darfur projects such as posters for visibility, while they waited for the dough to rise and bake. Volunteers then sold the challah in the Campus Center and in Bartlett Monday and Tuesday of this week, raising an estimated $60 or more. In addition to selling the challah, the volunteers hope to spread awareness about the situation in Darfur.
"In high school, I never knew exactly what [the situation in Darfur] was," said Yasmin. "And then I came here and learned what it was through MassPIRG."
According to a MassPIRG information pamphlet from last year, "Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes … more than 3.5 million men, women and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival."
Elizabeth Hawley is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at EHawley@student.umass.edu.
Seidel said she read about a group in California selling Challah for Hunger and decided to edit that idea for the University of Massachusetts campus. Selling the Challah for $1 in the Campus Center, Hillel sold all 24 of their extra loaves in one day.
This was the start of Challah for a Dolla, now a regular fundraiser at the Hillel House. All money raised goes to the American Jewish World Services (AJWS) and specifically to their Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund. According to Seidel, Bill Clinton praised Hillel's Challah for a Dolla program in a speech he gave at the AJWS "Partners in Global Justice" conference on June 13.
For the first time this semester, the University's MassPIRG chapter will be collaborating with Hillel on this program. Beginning this week, the MassPIRG Darfur Campaign will be volunteering alongside Hillel House volunteers to bake the challah and to sell it in the Campus Center.
"We're both working to end the genocide in Darfur," said MassPIRG Darfur Campaign co-coordinator and UMass sophmore Yasmin Abbayad about the collaborative efforts of MassPIRG and Hillel. "This is one way that we can work together for a good cause. Two groups are better than one."
The first joint bake-off occurred Oct. 21. For seven hours, volunteers working in shifts made the dough, braided it and baked, working on other Darfur projects such as posters for visibility, while they waited for the dough to rise and bake. Volunteers then sold the challah in the Campus Center and in Bartlett Monday and Tuesday of this week, raising an estimated $60 or more. In addition to selling the challah, the volunteers hope to spread awareness about the situation in Darfur.
"In high school, I never knew exactly what [the situation in Darfur] was," said Yasmin. "And then I came here and learned what it was through MassPIRG."
According to a MassPIRG information pamphlet from last year, "Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes … more than 3.5 million men, women and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival."
Elizabeth Hawley is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at EHawley@student.umass.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Lisa
posted 10/25/07 @ 10:37 AM EST
I love challah, but hmm . . . 7 hours to bake, and let's conservatively estimate 2 hours each to sell on Monday and Tuesday, times 2 people involved at any time. (Continued…)
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