EFTA00679028.pdf

From: Tomche Shabbos <alan@tomcheshabbos.org> To: jeevacation@gmail.com Subject: MY HEART WAS FULL Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:48:26 +0000 =Lt2, ;2, WEBSITE ABOUT DONATE VOLUNTEER EFTA00679028 L Pesach Volunteers Quick Links See Us On Facebook! VISIT OUR WEBSITE Dear Jeffrey, Ah gutten chodesh! First, I'd like to thank all of you for the tremendous chizuk you give me, as readers have taken the time to respond to my emails and to take an interest in specific cases. Since you are there to support Tomche Shabbos during times of crisis, it is only fair that I also share with you the heartwarming kiddush Hashem that I witnessed this past month. Nissan is our busiest month of the year. The heightened level of activity is punctuated by more phone calls, e-mails, supplier shortages, requests from rabbonim, and emergency phone calls than any other time of the year. We begin preparing for Pesach on the day after Purim. Suppliers are contacted, prices negotiated, and rival bids considered. We always know to expect some complications. This year, we discovered that there would be no Macintosh apples, since sudden cold weather killed most of the crop just as the buds were emerging last year. Instead, after some back and forth, we were finally able to secure Cortland and Empire apples, which had not been as severely affected. Another challenge was the eggs, since prices kept escalating each day. Fortunately, about three weeks before Pesach, we found a major egg supplier that agreed to lock in prices for extra large eggs at a reasonably good price. On the Friday before our major distribution, three forklifts arrived at our warehouse from a rental company. Tomche Shabbos owns its own forklift, but for our major pre-Pesach distribution, more are needed. On Sunday morning, a little more than a week before Pesach, the first tractor- trailer arrived at about 7:oo AM. Before long, a long row of tractor-trailers followed. Our four dedicated forklift operators methodically unloaded trailer after trailer as a coordinator directed a large team of volunteers as to where everything should go. We operated out of four warehouses: the three Tomche Shabbos warehouses and the neighboring Chofetz Chaim Heritge Foundation's warehouse, which housed the more than 10,000 pounds of hand shemurah matzohs. At about 3:oo PM we took a break to damn Mincha. Forklift operators, warehouse managers, volunteers, drivers, and packers washed their hands, and we held a huge Mincha minyan right there in the center of our warehouse. That Mincha minyan has become my favorite of the year. EFTA00679029 After a quick, non-chometz lunch for all, the trucks that would be making the deliveries began rolling in. Each was assigned a number that was placed in the windshield. Next, the trucks progressed down the industrial park, and at each stop they were loaded with the appropriate number of cases of each item for that route. The kiddush Hashem was amazing! Hundreds of people, all dedicated to chesed, and each and every one a volunteer, quietly and with no fanfare accomplishing whatever needed to be done. I can best describe the scene as a traffic jam of chesed. By 11:00 PM, the last truck pulled out and the great clean up began. By the headlights of our cars, we slowly and carefully drove up and down the industrial park, picking up all rubbish and ensuring that the area would be left in the same pristine condition in which we had found it that morning. By 12:30 AM, the last person pulled out of the industrial park and headed home. Before leaving, I lingered in the now still night to contemplate all that had gone on that day. I thought of the hundreds of volunteers, I thought of the drivers who had rented trucks at their own expense, I thought of all the wives who gave up their husbands on such a busy day, and I thought of each of you who, with great mesiras nefesh, fund this colossal kiddush Hashem. And my heart was full. May Hashem repay each of you heroes. With best wishes, Alan Rosenstock it Our Amazing Volunteers Click Here for Videos [it Like us on Thanks to your support, Tomche Shabbos assists 500 families in Rockland County with food, job placements, utility payments, and more. For more information, visit or call ext. 2. EFTA00679030 Tomche Shabbos, 78 College Road, Monsey, NY 10952 Tomche Shabbos I 78 College Road I Monsey I NY 1 10952 @ 2015 All Rights Reserved SafeUnsubscriberm Forward this email I Update Profile I About our service provider Sent by alamatomcheshabbos.org in collaboration with 2 Constant Contact Try it free today EFTA00679031