TAE Community. What an awesome group of people. Thank you to the hundreds of people who participated in Mitzvah Day. Together we made a difference in so many lives.

After a wonderful kick off from Rabbi Straus, Cantor David and Marcy, 152 people learned Sidewalk CPR ▪ 300 toiletry bags, luggage tags, hair scrunchies and 25 fleece blankets were given to My Stuff Bags who will distribute them to children who have been rescued from abuse ▪ 2000 letters to service members were reviewed, many letters were written, 100 paracord bracelets were made and given to Operation Gratitude who will send them to our troops and first responders ▪ 104 picture frames were decorated and will be given to our guests with their photos in them at our Community Holiday Dinner on December 25th ▪ 20 new pairs of shoes were donated to children at Sierra Linda Elementary School with our "Shoes that Fit" program ▪ Holiday gifts were donated for 114 children in foster care and tags were made to decorate their bags ▪ 374 candy bags were made for underprivileged and foster youth in Ventura County ▪ 340 blessing bags were made, many TAE members took them to keep in their car to give to those in need on the street and the rest were donated to Lutheran Social Services to give to their clients ▪ 10 bowls were painted for the Many Mansions fundraiser, "Bowls of Hope" ▪ 50 flower pots were painted, planted and donated to local retirement homes ▪ 6 trikes for the TAE ECE were painted and cleaned up ▪ 1 tree was planted in front of TAE to replace a tree that was damaged during the winds of Sukkot▪ 75 blue chairs from the social hall were cleaned ▪ Plants were planted around TAE and in the planter in the preschool yard ▪ Old t-shirts were turned into "new" tote bags ▪ Participants signed a get well card for a local firefighter who was injured fighting the Northern California fires ▪ Trails were cleared at Sapwi park in Thousand Oaks ▪ The Winter shelter supplies were inventoried ▪ 87 people (from TAE and Temple Etz Chaim) donated 78 pints of blood ▪ And all enjoyed the bagels and orange juice donated by the Senior/Adult group. WOW!

A huge thank you to Sarah Reines and Anne Hirsch for co-chairing this event and to the dozens of volunteers who planned, donated and ran projects for the day! Thank you also to Angel and Javier who helped us get everything set up and cleaned up!