Big Sunday is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1999, it is responsible for an annual community service event in Los Angeles, also called "Big Sunday", which has grown from its beginnings as a "Mitzvah Day" at a local Jewish temple to become the largest such community service event in the United States. [1]
The idea behind Big Sunday began as "Mitzvah Day", a project motivated by the Jewish concept of " tikkun olam " (repairing the world), at Temple Israel of Hollywood, supervised by temple member (and Big Sunday founder and executive director) David Levinson. [2] That event in 1999 had 200 volunteers, and has grown each year. It was renamed "Big Sunday" in 2003 to reflect the organization's secular and non-partisan openness.
In 2006, the event partnered with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to become an official city event, and reached 32,000 volunteers. [3] [4] [5] Executive Director and Founder David Levinson was named California Nonprofit Leader of the Year at the inaugural Governor and First Lady's Medals for Service ceremony on June 22, 2009. [6] In 2009, Big Sunday had over 50,000 volunteers participating in 500 projects around Southern California, including a neighborhood renovation project in Watts. [7]
Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated community of Willowbrook to the south.
NFTY: The North American Federation for Temple Youth is the organized youth movement of Reform Judaism in North America. Funded and supported by the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), NFTY exists to supplement and support Reform youth groups at the synagogue level. About 750 local youth groups affiliate themselves with the organization, comprising over 8,500 youth members.
American Jewish University (AJU) is a private Jewish university in Los Angeles, California. It was formed in 2007 from the merger of the University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute.
Radha Madhav Dham, originally called Barsana Dham is the main U.S. center of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat, a nonprofit organization located on more than 200 acres of land in Hays County, south of Austin, Texas. It is a Hindu temple and ashram campus, the oldest Hindu Temple in Texas the largest in North America.
Plug In America (PIA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization that promotes and advocates the use of plug-in cars, trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) powered by domestic and renewable electricity which it claims will help reduce dependence on fossil fuels, improve the global environment and reduce greenhouse gases and climate change.
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, known simply as the Jewish Journal, is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles, published by TRIBE Media Corp. Its editorial stance is conservative.
Kehillah Jewish High School is an independent college preparatory high school located in Palo Alto, California. "Kehillah" is a Hebrew word meaning "community." The school is one of a series of pluralistic (community) Jewish day schools in the United States at the high school level.
The LA Pride Festival & Parade, commonly known as LA Pride, is an annual LGBTQ Pride celebration in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the largest LGBTQ Pride events in the world, traditionally held on the second weekend of June, and produced by the Christopher Street West Association.
KLAA is a commercial AM radio station licensed to the city of Orange, California, and broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles Area. The station is owned by LAA 1, LLC, composed of the owners and executives of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team, and is held separately from the baseball club. KLAA's studios and offices are located on the grounds of Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. The transmitter is in Chino, California, off McCarty Road.
The HandsOn Network was a non-profit organization focusing on community service based in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. It sought to bring people together to strengthen communities through meaningful volunteer action, and mobilized some half million volunteers in communities inside and outside the United States. HandsOn Network created and managed nearly 50,000 projects a year, from building wheelchair ramps in San Francisco to teaching reading in Atlanta, to rebuilding homes and lives in Gulf Coast communities following Hurricane Katrina. Originally an independent organization, it became part of the nonprofit organization. The nonprofit was disbanded sometime in 2019.
Bet Shira Congregation is a Conservative synagogue located at 7500 SW 120th Street in Miami, Florida, in the United States.
Bikur cholim refers to the mitzvah to visit and extend aid to the sick. It is considered an aspect of gemilut chasadim. It is traditional to recite prayers for healing, such as the Mi Shebeirach prayer in the synagogue, and Psalms on behalf of the sick. Bikur holim societies exist in Jewish communities around the world. The earliest bikur holim society on record dates back to the early Middle Ages.
Temple Shalom of Northwest Arkansas is an unaffiliated Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 699 North Sang Avenue, in the Fayetteville area of Arkansas, in the United States. The small, mixed-denomination congregation is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism, yet it supports a variety of activities and services for Jews of all backgrounds.
The Sinai Temple is a Conservative synagogue located at 10400 Wilshire Boulevard, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, in the United States. The Sinai Temple congregation is the oldest and largest Conservative congregation in the greater Los Angeles area.
Temple Israel of Hollywood is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Founded in 1926, the congregation initially held services in the Hayakawa Mansion before the first Temple Israel building was established on Ivar Street under the leadership of Rabbi Isadore Isaacson. Temple Israel moved to its current location on Hollywood Boulevard in 1948. It has traditionally had a large number of film actors, writers, directors and producers as members. It is currently led by Senior Rabbi Mari Chernow.
Best In Drag Show is an annual fundraising event in Los Angeles, California, originally benefiting the California-based non-profit, Aid For AIDS, a program of Alliance for Housing and Healing. Initiated six years after Aid For AIDS was founded in 1983, the bawdy fundraiser now supports Alliance for Housing and Healing, the non-profit that resulted from the merger of Aid For AIDS and The Serra Project in 2009.
Chai Lifeline is a chesed organization founded in 1987 by Rabbi Simcha Scholar to help families with "children battling a deadly disease."
Mitzvah Day International is an annual day of faith-based social action that takes place in November each year, primarily in the United Kingdom. On Mitzvah Day each year, community groups and individuals undertake a range of volunteer projects for those in need in their local community. Organizations register with Mitzvah Day, which in turn helps match volunteers with local projects. The objective is to encourage people to give their time, rather than their money, to worthwhile local causes, whilst also creating deeper linkages within communities and supporting charities. In 2013, close to 30,000 people participated in Mitzvah Day around the world. Though based within the UK's Jewish Community, Mitzvah Day traditionally marks the first day of UK National Inter Faith Week, and as a result has expanded to include participants from other faith communities as well. 'Mitzvah' is the Hebrew biblical term for 'deed' or 'commandment', which has come to mean 'good deed' or 'charitable act' in contemporary English.
Yiddishkayt is a Yiddish cultural and educational organization, based in Los Angeles, California. Its offices are located in the Pellissier Building above the Wiltern Theater in the Koreatown District of Los Angeles. Its name refers to the cultural concept of yiddishkayt,, which the American Jewish critic Irving Howe described not in religious terms, but rather as a humanism based in a "readiness to live...beyond the clamor of self." According to the Yiddishkayt website, the organization seeks to "inspire current and future generations with the artists, writers, musicians, performers, filmmakers, philosophers, and social justice activists whose yiddishkayt — their particular form of critical and compassionate engagement with humanity — emerged from the Jewish communities of Europe as they developed in constant contact with their non-Jewish neighbors."
The September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance or 9/11 Day is a federally-recognized National Day of Service that happens in the United States on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Originally founded by the 9/11 nonprofit MyGoodDeed, the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance later became federally recognized and authorized as a Day of Service passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which was adopted on a bipartisan basis by the U.S. Congress in 2009. Later that year, President Barack Obama amended the Patriot Day Presidential Proclamation, first established by President George W. Bush, officially designating September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Surveys conducted by MyGoodDeed claim that approximately 35 million Americans observe 9/11 Day by engaging in some form of charitable service, making 9/11 Day the largest annual day of charitable service in the United States. The September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, are the only Days of Service officially recognized and established under federal law and Presidential Proclamation.