The Shofar proudly recognizes the members of our congregation who are stepping up with other community organizations, churches and individuals to participate in a common ambition to provide for those in need. The charity is called the Common Ground Project — growing vegetables to stock local food pantries, including CAST, for the poor.

The project was initiated by Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greenport, thanks to a grant from the Episcopal Ministries of Long Island, the generosity of Treiber Farms, which donated the land and watering system, and the hard work of a dedicated group of volunteers, who are cultivating a quarter-acre on Route 48 in Peconic (look for the Dodge truck with the giant American flag on its side; that’s Treiber Farms.) The Boy Scouts helped build the raised plots, Southold Town donates the soil, Marion Gardens in East Marion donates the seedlings, and the horse farm across from Treiber Farms supplies the manure to fertilize the plants. Clearly, the Common Ground Project is a true community garden.

                                  Volunteers cultivate for charity. Photos by Tom Byrne and Adrianne Greenberg.

For quite some time, a volunteer gardening group from our shul has put hands in the dirt to plant, weed and water the young veggies in Bed 16. But recently, the group took on a second plot, Bed 18 (chai), a number that figures prominently in modern Jewish culture. [In Hebrew, chai means life and/or luck. The Hebrew letters that spell chai add up to the numerical equivalent of 18, which is why many Jews make contributions in multiples of $18.] The gardening group maintaining the two beds are Tom Byrne, Rabbi Gadi Capela, Miriam Gabriel, Adrianne Greenberg, Veronica Kaliski, Jesse Reese, Suzi Rosenstreich and Madelyn Rothman. Those interested in helping can contact Veronica at v2kay@aol.com/.