CBI third-grader takes tzedakah to heart after visit to Pantry

By Jewish Review

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A Sept. 30 class visit to the Sunshine Pantry, a local grass-roots agency operated out of a small warehouse in a Beaverton business park, inspired  Congregation Beth Israel Religious School third-grader Lily O’Brien to start taking tzedakah seriously.

Iris Avedovech’s third grade students and their parents met Sharon Straus, who has run the Pantry almost single-handedly since she began the organization in her Beaverton home in the early 1980s.
   
The message of what Straus does for people inspired O’Brien to collect items to donate not only from around her family’s home but also from her friends’ homes as well. At a recent play date, the 8-year-old noticed the family was cleaning out their closets and piling up items to be donated.  Without missing a beat, O’Brien asked if she could take the items and deliver them to the Sunshine Pantry.  The family readily agreed. 
   

Straus’ one-woman crusade to help the needy in the area has attracted the attention of news outlets, schools, shops and other community organizations. In late 2006 complaints from neighbors prompted city officials to close the home-grown Pantry, but Straus was able to secure the warehouse location with the help of  supporters.
   
The relocated Pantry opened in February 2007 and has continued to attract donors from around the community.  The Pantry accepts donations of most any and every kind: clothes, linens, household goods, diapers, hygiene supplies, medicine, baby formula, pet food, canned food and kosher food.  Straus then distributes the items to those in need throughout the Metro area, focusing especially on Washington County. 
   
In 2006, the agency received a $10,000 Social Service Grant from the city of Beaverton.  The Pantry also participates in Metro’s Food Rescue program, joining with other agencies to collect leftover food from restaurants and caterers and then distribute it throughout the community.
   
Iris Avedovech, who has taught at Beth Israel and in other school programs for more than 20 years, learned about Straus and the Pantry at last year’s Portland Area Jewish Educators Conference and decided it sounded like a good place to take her students.
   
“I love the woman; I think she really embodies holiness in the way she looks at people, completely accepts them and respects them,” said Avedovech. “I see her being grateful for having found a special way to serve others. She makes a great focal point for the third level Chai (the URJ curriculum used at Beth Israel in grades 2-5). She definitely demonstrates loving-kindness in the way the lessons present it. She also demonstrates the persistence Chai encourages. Our curriculum focuses on k’dusha (holiness) and g’milut chasadim (acts of loving kindness). The students immediately recognize Sharon as a true example of these concepts.”
   
At the beginning of November, O’Brien and her father OB, delivered a load of clothes, toys and other household goods to the Pantry. 
   
“I think from my perspective it’s just so inspiring to see someone like Sharon, whose life’s work is dedicated to the needs of other people.  And it’s infectious,” said OB O’Brien. 
   
The Sunshine Pantry is located in Nimbus Business Park at the rear of Building 26, 7795 SW Cirrus Dr. in Beaverton, off SW Hall Blvd.  The hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and by special request.  For more information, contact Sharon Straus at 503-646-6856.