Friendship Circle of Los Angeles, led by Rabbi Michy and Miriam Rav Noy, celebrated this year’s weekly programs of Hebrew School, Sunday Circle and Basketball Club with an End Of Year Drive Thru. Held in the spacious outdoor parking lot of YULA Girls’ High School, complete with masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer, car after car arrived for the fun!
Families and staff were delighted to be reunited after several months of online programming.
When families entered the parking lot, they were warmly greeted by staff. Music was playing, and a clown roved the area making balloon flowers. Following the year’s theme of Shabbos, participants received either a monogrammed Kiddush cup or candlestick. This special gift was generously sponsored by several private donors. Parents were thrilled to get a gift too! Spiked seltzer to go for the dads, and beautiful leather handbags for the moms.
The basketball challenge was next and the kids were delighted to see their coaches and to receive a medal for their efforts. One child, who doesn’t like to wear anything around his neck, wore his medal for the rest of the day.
The cars then stopped behind a colorful FCLA banner held by volunteers for a car photo shoot.
Next in the drive through was an ice cream truck with dairy, pareve and GF choices, along with water bottles. The ice cream was generously donated by Shmuly Cohen of Nick Trading.
Participants of Sunday Circle picked up their magnificent candlestick sculptures that they created earlier in the year. The students designed candlesticks from all different shapes of wood, and painted them. This project was spearheaded by Selena Rodjani, an adult volunteer. The candlesticks were previously displayed in a local art gallery. During the recent riots in Los Angeles, all the businesses on either side of the art gallery had their windows smashed and were looted. The gallery, with its candlesticks by the Friendship Circle participants artfully displayed in the window, had no damage. The owner attributed this miraculous escape to the merit of the candlesticks. The candlesticks also garnered interest from several passers by, including Holocaust survivors, who were moved by the Shabbos candlesticks display.
Towards the end of the circle, families drove by to get Shabbos party bags, with a songbook designed especially for the occasion. A flyer and a bag were given out, linking this drive through to an upcoming Zoom Shabbat Party and Musical Havdallah.
One family wrote about the event, “Thanks so much for a wonderful, socially distanced program yesterday. Everyone had a great time. We really appreciate all of the work of the Friendship Circle throughout the year. And we were particularly blown away by the beautiful personally monogrammed Kiddush Cup for Simcha! What an amazing gift. Thank you so much for everything that you do, and we hope that we will be able to get back to “business as usual” with FCLA soon!”
After the event for families, volunteers from Sunday Circle and Hebrew School were invited to pick up sweatshirts and get them professionally tie dyed on the spot. This was a great opportunity for volunteers to attend an outdoor, socially distanced appreciation event.
In the midst of new rules and regulations, Friendship Circle of Los Angeles created an interactive, meaningful and exciting end of year program for kids, their families, and local teen volunteers, bringing them a much needed socially distanced, yet fun and social event!
What a beautiful event, G-D Bless You!