Last Thursday, I had the good fortune to visit one of my favorite organizations in Northern New Jersey, Yad Leah, which today has an expansive 15,000 sq. foot warehouse and volunteer center space in Passaic. For those unaware, Yad Leah, founded in 2003 is an organization devoted to collecting good condition and new excess/donated clothing and distributing it to dozens of organizations in Israel. Yad Leah has become well known within our community and beyond for their well-publicized clothing drives, their annual fall Dash for Dignity Walk/Run (set for Sunday, Nov. 10), for annually hosting thousands of volunteers, bar/bat mitzvah groups and more from all walks of life and sectors of the Jewish community to help Yad Leah’s full-time employees to sort thru and pack the clothing they receive.
Upon my arrival, I witnessed the staff shut the doors on a jam-packed container filled with nearly 1,300 boxes of clothing destined to arrive in Israel in the next six to eight weeks and just in time for the Yom Tovim. And as I walked in, I saw the multi-story pile of clothing waiting to be sorted, evaluated and packed. It’s hard to describe how big this pile is and I don’t even think a picture or two fully captures the amount of clothing that our community has donated to Yad Leah in the last few months alone.
While there, I was given a tour of the space by Yad Leah’s co-founder and director, Jessica Katz, as well as Aliza Bloom, Yad Leah’s communications manager. Jessica’s excitement and passion for all things Yad Leah always shines through and this visit was no different. Since it’s been about five years since I was last at the warehouse, Jessica was proud to point out how much had changed. Since my last visit in 2019, the Yad Leah space has tripled in size and despite the incredible amount of clothing I saw, the atmosphere was that of a well-run and efficient, well-organized operation. It was a pleasure to be there.
Jessica was also proud to point out the expansive and airy volunteer center area where dozens of volunteers are able to help Yad Leah simultaneously. She also noted that since October 7, the amount of donated clothing from clothing manufacturers, brands and retailers has increased dramatically. I saw hundreds of boxes of clothing from a range of name brands. Although she has been working with clothing companies for years, she emphasized that many more companies and business owners in the field have come forward to do more and look for more ways to support Israel since Oct. 7, and donating their unsold or excess inventory to Yad Leah has been one such way. She also explained that some of the clothing donated have minor, sometimes undetectable, defects that prevent them from being sold online or in a store but otherwise, they are perfectly fine and wearable.
After the tour, we sat down in Jessica’s office to discuss a few things, including the upcoming inaugural “Dress Them To The Nines: An Interactive 9 Days Chesed Experience” event set for Sunday, Aug. 11 and which Jessica conceived only a few short weeks ago. She and Yad Leah were looking for a way to do something different during the Nine Days that would be chesed/tzedakah-oriented and also a way to attract friends of Yad Leah to the warehouse and volunteer center. So she hit upon the idea of holding an VIP open house/reception with activities for kids and also offering Yad Leah’s friends a chance to connect directly with the recipients and organizations where Yad Leah sends its clothing. She and her team came up with a great name for the event and began marketing it in the last week or so. See their ad on page 2. It should be a special and unique pre-Tisha B’Av experience for the whole family or group. Check it out and consider registering at: yadleah.org/9days
(Full disclosure: Among the reasons why I am a fan of Yad Leah is that I had the privilege of consulting for and working closely with Yad Leah’s co-founder and director Jessica Katz a few years ago on fundraising and I am also proud to count Yad Leah today as a happy nonprofit client of our affiliate company, Jewish Link Marketing & Design Solutions, which is run by my partner and friend Adam Negnewitzky. Adam and our team work very closely with Yad Leah and we have a close bond with this special organization. For more info about what we do for nonprofits, schools and other orgs, please visit our site out at: http://jlinkmarketing.com
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I want to wish a mazal tov to my daughter and son-in-law, Tamar and Isaac Aronoff, on the birth of their first son and our first grandchild this past Friday. I may write more about the birth after the brit but for now, I just want to say mazal tov. Mazal tov also to Isaac’s special parents, Eden and Dr. Jeff Aronoff and to the great-grandparents, Aaron & Toby
Kinderlehrer and Nina Glick.
