Courtney Cohen with Richmond Jewish Day School students, who generously collected personal hygiene items for this year’s Rose’s Angels. (photo from Rose’s Angels)
The 11th annual Rose’s Angels event just wrapped up. This year, the initiative was able to give donations to 15 not-for-profits in Richmond that service some of the most vulnerable people in the city, including Richmond Family Place, Mamas for Mamas, Turning Point Recovery Society, JFS Grocery Program (formerly the Jewish Food Bank), Richmond Food Bank, Tikva Housing and Pathways Clubhouse.
Rose’s Angels was created in 2012 by Courtney Cohen and Lynne Fader, in memory of Cohen’s grandmothers, Rose Lewin and Babs Cohen, both of whom modeled philanthropy and instilled in Cohen the importance of giving back within her community. Rose’s Angels is run under the umbrella of the Kehila Society of Richmond.
Among the goods donated were essential personal care items, non-perishable food, pet food, children’s arts and crafts, books and baby formula. For many of the receiving agencies, baby formula was one of the top priority items this year – Rose’s Angels was able to donate many
baby formula cans and ready-to-feed bottles to Mamas for Mamas and the food bank, for instance.
“Being a new mom myself, I can’t imagine the feeling of not having the accessibility or means to get my baby formula,” said Cohen. “With the ever-rising cost of inflation and the toll it’s having on families and single parents, formula is becoming more of a challenge to obtain. We received this email post-event from one of our partner agencies regarding our donation of formula: ‘I can’t tell you what it means to us and so many families! We had another mom come in from the hospital yesterday. They use one of the types of formula you donated, and she felt like her prayers had been answered!’ Stories like these make me so proud to carry on the Rose’s Angels legacy year after year.”
The success of Rose’s Angels would not be possible without the support and dedication of donors, volunteers and community members. This year, donation letters were sent out to partner agencies, family friends and community members in January. In February, monetary and physical donations were collected, Richmond Jewish Day School hosted a hygiene items collection drive and grocery store gift cards were purchased. Earlier this month, donations were packaged and delivered with the help of volunteers to the 15 not-for-profits.
“My parents and grandparents taught me to recognize and respond to the needs of others with kindness and generosity,” said Cohen. “I hope to instil in my daughter the importance of tikkun olam (repairing the world), by focusing on one mitzvah at a time.”
If you would like to learn more about or donate to Rose’s Angels, email rosesangelsevent@gmail.com or call the Kehila Society of Richmond at 604-241-9270.
– Courtesy Rose’s Angels