Challah For Hunger, Passover Seder, & A New Hillel Student Board

Betsy Besser, Co-Founder of Challah for Hunger

     In the fall of 2013, I was asked to be a part of a fellowship program through UVM Hillel. Through this fellowship, I along with graduate Tali Burger, founded the Challah for Hunger chapter at University of Vermont. After nearly two years, so much has changed with Challah for Hunger. However, one thing has stayed consistent. And that has been the constant support we receive from Hillel. This idea would not have been possible without the Hillel professionals advising us as well as members of Hillel participating in our weekly bakes and events.

     This semester, we have developed our chapter tremendously. Last year, we baked bi-weekly and sold our homemade challah outside of the library or inside the Davis Center. This semester, we decided to focus on baking every week to allow more opportunity to bake throughout the semester. Along with baking every week, we supply our challah to Hillel for Shabbat as well as FeelGood to make grilled cheeses.

     We have been so fortunate to work to with an organization like FeelGood because we can learn a lot from their success as well as work towards raising donations for three organizations: The Hunger Project, Hunger Free Vermont, and MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. During Earth Week this month, we will be participating in the Farmers Market as well as FeelGood’s Earth Day dinner.

     Not only has our chapter developed on campus, but also we have made a lot of relations off campus. We have been working with Hunger Free Vermont, which has opened our eyes to how we can fight hunger in our local community. Monica Taylor of Hunger Free Vermont has been to one of our baking nights and has been a great support this semester. She has put us in contact with so many community leaders as well as helping us with ingredient donations. We also have reached out to Temple Sinai, where we will be selling challah on April 16th and 30th before Hebrew School. Starting next semester, we will be tabling at the Essex Farmers Market to reach out to more of our Burlington community. The past two years has been unbelievable and I cannot thank Hillel enough for supporting my dream of bringing Challah for Hunger to the University of Vermont. We have accomplished a lot over the past two years and we are only hoping to grow more by baking a difference.

First Night of Passover

In lieu of a Friday Night Shabbat, we hosted a giant seder in the Davis Center with over 150 people attending. The meal was catered by Vermont Kosher and it was a great opportunity to celebrate with a lot of different people. Check out more info on it here.

New Hillel Student Board

Congratualtions to our new president, Michael Swain! Hillel has so many different clubs and groups that I didn't even know existed until this semester (like Peer Network Interns) and with all the growing we have done the past couple of years, it's time for a new student board set-up. All clubs and departments are divided into three specific categories (arts and culture, jewish life and learning, student outreach), so things can run more smoothly. There are lots of opportunities to be involved, so contact Sharon@uvmhillel.org for more info.