JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Members of Jacksonville’s Jewish community fanned out around Jacksonville to deliver Christmas meals to seniors served by the Meals on Wheels program, operated by Aging True.
For years, Jewish volunteers have stepped up on Christmas, so that the program’s employees can take a day off, and enjoy the holiday.
It’s a volunteer effort they call “Mitzvah Day.” Mitzvah is a Hebrew word meaning “good deed.”
And from cooking to packing to delivering - it was a team effort.
The day started in the kitchen at a local synagogue - where they prepared the meals - complete with chicken, dressing, vegetables, a roll, and a drink.
Then it was time to assemble and pack the meals with everything set up, assembly-line style.
The result is dozens and dozens of hot meals in trays, nearly 400 in all.
Volunteers - young and old - then picked them up, for delivery.
One of the drivers is new to Jacksonville... but not new to this sort of volunteering.
“I grew up in South Florida and we always had mitzvah days and stuff, so it’s nice to participate,” Stephanie Goldschmid said.
In recent years - Jacksonville’s Mitzvah Day efforts have gone beyond bringing meals to homebound seniors.
The volunteers also prepare and pack up baked goods, which they deliver to area fire stations -- showing gratitude to the first responders working on Christmas.
“It’s pretty amazing, I’m lucky to be part of a community where people take their free time and their holiday time to help others, it’s really special, Rabbi Maya Glasser said.
Aging True says that if it weren’t for the Jewish community’s efforts, many of the seniors they serve would not have had a hot Christmas Day meal.
This “Mitzvah Day” project has been a local tradition for three decades.