Helping the Homeless, One Loaf at a Time
BY JAMIE GOTTLIEB / AJT //
One loaf of challah does more than you think.
University of Georgia students in Challah for Hunger, a student-run nonprofit organization, raise money for the Athens Area Homeless Shelter through baking and selling challah.
The bread comes in three flavors: plain, chocolate chip and cinnamon sugar. Arielle Nooromid, a junior at the University of Georgia and co-director of Challah for Hunger, said the organization bakes about 80 challahs per week to sell on campus.
“We sell until we run out,” she said. “Some mornings we run out, and there are some mornings where we don’t sell as many as we think.”
Each loaf of challah costs $4, and by selling every loaf, Challah for Hunger earns $320 every week. They donate about $1,280 to homeless shelters every month.
Molly Golderman, UGA sophomore, said baking challah and using the money to give back to the Athens community is rewarding, especially within the Jewish community.
“Because challah is a staple of Jewish meals and Shabbat, making challah with other Jewish people and giving back to the community seems like a mitzvah,” she said.
Nooromid said she joined Challah for Hunger because she wanted to feel dedicated to a charity organization. People are buying challah that students bake, but the group is more than that.
“You put your heart into it, and I like putting my all into something, especially when I see how it affects the community I live in,” she said. “I wanted to help it grow, have people involved and see how much they could help.”
Besides donating money to the Athens Area Homeless Shelter, the students of Challah for Hunger are educating their peers.
“Not many people know what challah is – that it’s a staple of Jewish culture,” Golderman said of people’s reactions during sales at the Tate Student Center on campus.
Nooromid said students don’t need to be Jewish to get involved in the organization.
“It doesn’t matter [participants’ religion],” she said. “We’re just a group of students giving back to our community.”
Jamie Gottlieb is an Honors Program student at the University of Georgia (Class of ’15), social media editor at The Red & Black and a core team member of TEDxUGA.
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