It was a typical Sunday in the Cyrulnik house—spending time watching sporting events and visiting with family and friends. But this week, the Cyrulnik children had an idea—a drive to raise money for those affected by the wildfires ravaging many parts of Israel.
“We love making stands,” said Aderet Cyrulnik, age 7. “In the summer we make lemonade stands, so we decided to make a drink stand and give the money to tzedakah.” To prepare, the kids made signs that they hung at their house, their parents publicized on social media and they went out to buy the necessary ingredients. Friends and family members stopped by, many leaving $10 and $20 bills in support of Israel. After two hours of selling smoothies and hot chocolate, the children opened the register to see how they had done. The family’s second grader, who had just learned to add 10s, put her Yeshivat Noam studies to work: “10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60…Mommy, I think we made $250!” exclaimed the elated Cyrulnik.
Talk about philanthropy and fundraising is par for the course in the Cyrulnik house, as Rachel Cyrulnik, the mother of the house, is a partner at ALTRUICITY, a professional consulting firm that advises Jewish nonprofits across the county. “As a fundraiser, I was very pleased to see my kids so excited about raising money to do something good,” she noted. “As a mother, it was really heartwarming to see the positive response from the community.”
The family decided to donate the money raised to the Israel Emergency Relief Fund at UJA of Greenwich, a client of Rachel’s consulting firm, which they knew would see to it that 100% of the funds raised would go straight to victims of the recent tragedies. When UJA received the gift, Executive Director Pam Ehrenkranz was so inspired that she decided to match the gift, making the total $500. “Pam sent the kids a handwritten note, and they were floored when they read that she was matching the gift,” said Rachel. “They never imagined that their idea would result in $500 being sent to the cause.” Micah Cyrulnik, age 11, was thrilled. “I was astonished by what is possible from taking two hours of your time and setting them aside for tzedakah,” he said.
The ripple effect continued, with friends in different communities who had seen the event publicized on Facebook reaching out to the Cyrulniks to ask about adapting the idea for projects in their own communities.
“It was a great reminder of what children—or anyone with an idea, big or small—can accomplish,” said Micah Kaufman, longtime Teaneck resident and patron of the pop-up beverage shop. “And the smoothies were good to boot.”
