House of pancakes: Shul crepe sales raise funds for Habitat for Humanity

by Enid Weiss
NJJN Staff Writer

While some people are spending lazy summer Sunday mornings soaking up the sun, a handful of Temple B’nai Or members have been traipsing to the Morristown Farmers’ Market to hawk crepes as a way to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity.

So far the group has raised $1,200 through Crepes for Carpentry, an effort to aid Morris Habitat’s Interfaith Build project rebuild a duplex in Morristown for a low-income family.

The houses of worship undertaking the project include seven area churches and B’nai Or.

“We need to raise $80,000, and we’ve got a year to do it,” said Lee Befeler, chairman of the temple’s Habitat committee and the congregation’s representative on Habitat’s project steering committee.

B’nai Or is committed to helping the organization reach its goal.

“We’re planning on having more crepe sales, a walkathon and other fund-raisers,” Befeler said.

The project is one of several coordinated by Morris Habitat. The group is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry dedicated to building decent, affordable housing for and in partnership with low-income families.

The Reform synagogue in Morristown learned about the effort through the Morris County Clergy Council, of which Rabbi Donald Rossoff is a member. Rossoff’s daughter, Ilana, is the former chair of Habitat for Humanity’s Youth United at Morristown High School. The interfaith build itself is under the auspices of Madison Affordable Housing Corporation and Church of God in Christ of Morristown, according to Habitat’s Web site.

“This is the first time the temple’s been involved” in a Habitat project, Befeler said. “When we joined it, we advised our fellow interfaith members we couldn’t work on Saturdays. No one’s had a problem with that — they’ve been sensitive. We schedule fund-raisers on Sunday and [a church group] sells items at the Boonton farmers’ market on Saturdays. I feel it’s important for Jews to participate in interfaith activities.”

Interfaith Build has bought and will rebuild a two-unit duplex. Much of the goods and services needed to complete the project have been donated.

“We just got the house in June,” Befeler said. “There are so many steps before you start building — you need [building permits]. We won’t start building until spring. Right now we’re doing yard work — cleaning out poison ivy, maintenance — so it’s not an eyesore in the neighborhood.”

The project fits well into the temple’s overall social action plan, said Helen Jacobson, chair of B’nai Or’s social action committee. She said she tries to include both long- and short-term projects in the schedule and some within the Jewish community and others in the general community.

“It does help relations in the area,” Jacobson said of interfaith projects. “It helps people who don’t know Jews to get to know us, and we get to know them.”

She added, “We’re dedicated to tikun olam [repairing the world] and promoting equality and justice in the world.”

The B’nai Or group has been selling crepes and bottles of water once a month at the Sunday morning farmers’ market.

The name Crepes for Carpentry was conceived by Noah Befeler.

“We wanted to make signs telling people what we were selling,” said the 11-year-old. “We wanted something catchy and that had to do with building.”

Betsy Freeman of Morris Plains, drawing on her experience as a former caterer, worked with Maryann Klejmont at Kings supermarket in Mendham to arrange for the grocery store to donate the crepe ingredients, including such culinary embellishments as whipped cream, chocolate hazenut spread, and fruit filling and toppings.

“I’m the food person,” Freeman said. “I’m passionate about Habitat for Humanity…. What it’s doing is not rewarding poor people but helping working poor help themselves.”

“This is an important project,” said Morris Habitat executive director Blair Schleicher-Wilson. “Christine Valenski, chair of our steering committee, has been working to include new congregations. It’s projects like this — working together with the common idea that we can help our brothers and sisters — that, hopefully, help us learn from each other.”

Schleicher-Wilson said it wasn’t difficult to accommodate the temple’s need for Sunday activities because flexibility “is the point.”

“We’ve got to be flexible in order for me and you to learn about each other — it’s the Habitat way,” she said.

Schleicher-Wilson also said the $1,200 tally from just two days of crepes sales was “fabulous” and she looks forward to the temple group’s continued involvement in Habitat.

“We had 17 people at the July event,” said Lee Befeler, who organized the sales. “I sent out one e-mail and I got a lot of people. I call it inspirational, the spirit and enthusiasm of the people at my temple.… It’s the middle of the summer and they gave up a Sunday — that’s a lot to ask. We were there about five hours.”

The B’nai Or volunteers will be selling crepes for Habitat at the Farmers’ Markets on Sept. 10 and Oct. 8, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, contact Lee Befeler.