As the isolation of the elderly in our communities continues, young people are putting their technological acumen to work in devising programs through which to help. Maurice Korish and Adam Hollander are juniors at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston. Both residing in Randolph, New Jersey, the two have been friends since attending Gottesman RTW Jewish Academy. Their interests also parallel, as Korish offered, “Both of us are deeply invested in programming/computer science starting from freshman year at Kushner. We have worked on numerous projects, wrote our own functional programs and participated in advanced courses, including a selective artificial intelligence seminar at Kushner.”
A few weeks ago, in reaction to the pandemic surrounding them, they mutually decided to embark upon a chesed project, which they named Deliver Together. Both have drivers’ licenses, which enabled them to develop and implement their chesed project, through which they would provide shopping, delivery and errand services to the elderly and those unable to venture out during this shutdown.
Their first step was to contact two local community rabbis, Rabbi Menashe East of the Mount Freedom Jewish Center and Rabbi Moshe Rudin from Temple Adath Shalom, who knew those in the community who might need assistance. Then they proceeded to speak with their rebbeim at Kushner for help in recruiting fellow students as volunteers. Rabbi Richard Kirsch and Rabbi Hal Levy, who serve as advisors in student engagement at Kushner, as well as community rebbeim, helped greatly in identifying students who were willing to participate. Through these combined efforts they now have volunteers from Rockaway, Morris Plains, Westfield, Livingston, Randolph and New Vernon.
Utilizing their computer skills, Korish and Hollander were able to create their own website in its entirety utilizing computer languages HTML and PHP. Korish explained, “Once the client goes on to our website and registers, he/she is contacted by a volunteer to establish eligibility. Then a four-digit security PIN is assigned to the client, which he/she uses to enter information on the homepage and then be connected to a volunteer who will be in contact to determine the needs and arrange for a plan.”
So far, after only two weeks up and running, Deliver Together has serviced clients throughout Morris County, including Denville, Rockaway, Morristown, Mendham and, of course, Randoph. They look forward to expanding their services, hopefully even beyond the duration of the pandemic’s isolation.
Korish and Hollander shared, “We have already accumulated some funds by private donors and have used them to ensure that our website has both privacy and security. All funds collected are for the purpose of improving the organization. We are completely not-for-profit and a strictly volunteer organization. We are in contact with an attorney to help us apply for official 501(c)(3) status. Any remaining funds which we accumulate we plan to donate to local food shelters as per our advisers. Go to our Facebook page to learn more about us and thank you in advance for any help that you can give� us or if you wish to serve as a volunteer.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/DeliverTogether.�
By Pearl Markovitz
