VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

When Leslie Brandeis was a child, her mother shared a unique take on volunteering.

“She used to say, ‘When you volunteer once, you’ll always be asked to volunteer again,’” says Leslie, who today calls herself a “professional” volunteer. “Mom was right, and it’s so gratifying to be asked again and again.”

During the early months of the COVID– 19 pandemic, Leslie came to The Salvation Army in Port Chester, N.Y., to help pack and distribute food bags for families in the community. “Eventually, other volunteers went back to their jobs. But I’m retired; I can’t just sit at home doing nothing,” says Leslie.

“I didn’t know much about the Army, except that when there was a crisis, they were always there to help. I would give to the kettles during the holidays, but I didn’t know the extent of the work they did for their communities,” says Leslie.

She’s now part of that work. In a storage space inside the Army’s gym, which Leslie calls her “closet,” she comes in every week to prepare bags containing pasta, rice, and other meal products for families. She has her own method of packing and stacking. “It can feel a little like a conveyor belt job,” says Leslie. “But I say that, if you’re going to do a conveyor belt job, you might as well do one that helps as many people as possible.”

Early in the pandemic, Leslie also helped deliver food to homes in Port Chester. She says that this gave her a new view of living and housing conditions in the community.

“I noticed that sometimes we were dropping off boxes at back doors and basement entrances. These weren’t legal residences. In case of fire or other emergencies, it can be dangerous for someone to live like that.”

Leslie Brandeis divides her time between attending her synagogue and packing food bags for The Salvation Army.

Leslie, who is Jewish, divides her time between attending her synagogue, Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel (KTI), and volunteering at The Salvation Army. Sometimes her two organizations work together; Congregation KTI has done coat drives, toiletry collections, and food drives for distribution at the Army in the Port Chester.

“I see the work as a mitzvah, which usually means commandment, but it’s also used to describe a good deed done for others,” says Leslie. “I look at the nourishing food that I pack every week at the corps, and I’m grateful that I don’t have the need for it, and that I never grew up hungry or lacking in anything. When I became a mother, I wanted my own family to also appreciate what we were fortunate to have. My children grew up knowing that on one of the eight nights of Hanukkah in our home, instead of receiving gifts, they would be donating them.

Mom used to say, when you volunteer once, you’ll always be asked to volunteer again. She was right, and it’s so gratifying to be asked again and again.

“I’ve seen those same values while working with Salvation Army officers. I’m always impressed and overwhelmed by how much they care. This is a true calling for them,” says Leslie. “I also admire how Hispanic communities in Port Chester have kept their own cultures and languages alive [among each other]. In Jewish communities, Yiddish has been somewhat lost along the way.”

As a child, Leslie recalls hearing stories about her father waiting on breadlines as a boy. Now, as a volunteer, she’s helping feed families just like his.

“We once had a discussion at my synagogue about why there are poor people in the world,” says Leslie. “I don’t think there’s a real answer to that question. I do think that, if all our financial situations were the same, we would find something else to be unhappy about. When the Jewish people left Egypt, God provided manna (bread). They still complained about having to eat the same thing every day.

“Instead of asking ‘Why does poverty exist?,’ ask, ‘What can we do to fix it?’ I know that these dozen bags of groceries I just packed won’t erase poverty tomorrow. But maybe, they will make someone’s life a little bit easier for a day.”

by HUGO BRAVO