Richmond's Jews join forces

Kehila Society promotes a team atmosphere within the island city.

KYLE BERGER REPORTER

Taking a lead from agencies within the Jewish community of Greater Vancouver that often work together for events and projects, the smaller community of Richmond has been developing a group to help their organizations work more closely, as well.

Several years ago, a number of concerned Richmond residents began voicing their complaints about having to travel to Vancouver in order to receive the type of services they required for their family. The result was the formation in August 1999 of the Kehila Society.

The society was established to promote a team atmosphere within the island city in order to facilitate outreach, create additional Judaic programming and support existing programs and organizations.

Members of the Kehila's council, made up of representatives from all of Richmond's organizations and synagogues, the Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA) and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, meet regularly to compare notes.

The current presidents of the society are Brenda Halliwell and Tammy Godfrey and the administrator is Lynne Fader Lines.

In an interview with the Bulletin, Lines said the council meetings have created a refreshing attitude in Richmond.

"I think [Kehila] has helped to develop a true sense of community in Richmond," she said. "Before, it was more territorial and nobody was working together. Now, instead of the 'I' mentality, we have the 'we' mentality, where everybody is working together for the same immediate goal, which is to create a better Jewish life in Richmond."

The Kehila Society has already been responsible for creating or facilitating several community projects, such as the Richmond Seniors Lunch Club in partnership with the JFSA and Eitz Chaim synagogue, the Jewish Book Club with Beth Tikvah synagogue and the Community Kollel, and a community Pesach seder at Eitz Chaim.

"Kehila is a community agency and it is represented by all the agencies in Richmond," Lines stressed. "There's no one core group. It is a true community."

The society has spent much of its first couple of years solidifying its role in the Richmond community and Lines said she looks forward to creating and developing more defined roles in the years to come.

"The first year was a matter of getting the money and getting the momentum and now it is a matter of prioritizing, defining boundaries and going forward," she said. "Obviously, every year, the community is going to grow and develop different needs, so we're always going to have to be redefining our goals."

Another future project for Kehila is a newsletter called Kesher. Kesher is currently represented in the Federation newsletter Yachad, but Lines said their intentions are to produce an independent publication that will promote Richmond community events and programs.

"We want to have something that we can drop off to larger community centres so that hopefully the unaffiliated will also see stuff that's going on. Especially the unaffiliated seniors," said Lines.

Other future Kehila projects include various programming for seniors, a social services council and summer programming for children. For more information about the Kehila Society, call Lines at 604-644-1162.

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