About a decade ago, Debby Singer, who was then the Education Director at Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center (PJTC), was approached by her rabbi because he had been invited to join the board of Friends In Deed. “My wife will kill me if I join another board,” he said. “Can you take a look and see if you might be interested?”
That rabbi was, of course, our very own Joshua Levine Grater, and we have to hope his wife has forgiven him for since taking on a role that demands far more of his time than serving on a board! At the time, however, the Executive Director of Friends In Deed was Rev. Donna Byrns.
Debby describes meeting Donna, and being given a tour of Friends In Deed House. Almost as soon as they entered the building they happened upon a client who needed feminine hygiene products. Debby says this had an enormous impact on her, realizing that women experiencing homelessness can’t take access to hygiene essentials for granted, and that FID has a huge role to play in making such things available.
The intensity of the impact continued as the tour went on. Debby says the staff and volunteers knew the names of all the clients, knew their backgrounds, their food preferences, and could tell her their stories. This was no less true in the Food Pantry, where Tim knew his clients, their families’ names, how they traveled to the pantry, and their dietary needs. She was left with a sense that Friends In Deed was an organization that really made a difference, meeting people where they were, and giving them what they needed. She sees it as putting the Jewish principle of tikkun olam (fixing the world) into practice.
In the last 10 years Debby has seen the board change, from a very hands-on group who organized events and volunteered with the Bad Weather Shelter, to a more professionally-oriented advisory and leadership team. Debby’s life has also changed – she retired as PJTC’s Director of Education and took on a part-time role as a program director at the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys. But, despite having had to reprise her role at PJTC for a period to cover a staffing shortage, she has still managed to make time for Friends In Deed and we are grateful for her contribution.
Debby is also very proud of her granddaughter Sophie, with whom she has been able to share the excitement of working with Friends In Deed. Sophie has been a regular volunteer at FID, and will be starting college at UCLA in September!