With the holiday giving season right around the corner, we were beyond thrilled to learn about two MAZON supporters, Suse Cohen and Adam Cohen (not related), who are tapping into their creativity to help us fight hunger. Check out their neat projects:

Flipping over Chanukah and Fighting Hunger

This holiday season Suse Cohen is raising funds for MAZON by creating Chanukah-themed t-shirts and donating 20% of the profits for every t-shirt she sells.

Suse is a religious school educator in Iowa who works to deepen her students’ understanding of tzedakah (social justice), chesed (kindness) and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Her quest began a few years ago with a handful of 15 minute lessons centered on a unified theme: “Because the world is not fair, we must share.” The idea really took hold, and students started not only begging for Suse’s lessons, but also engaging in their own efforts to share. So inspired by her students’ embrace of chesed, she decided to take it to the next level and raise money for a charitable cause.

During this past High Holy Days, she was moved by a sermon about hunger given by Neil Salowitz, a MAZON board member. But it was a visit to San Francisco that opened her eyes to the prevalence of hunger and homelessness that is less apparent in her midwest hometown. She knew then that she should donate a portion of the t-shirt sales to MAZON.

If you would like to order a t-shirt, please click on one of the following links. There are three designs to choose from: menorah , dreidel, and latke.

A Nice Jewish Guy Makes Calendar to Support MAZON

Adam Cohen knows a challenge lurks for all of us at the end of every year: which calendar to buy for the upcoming year. But he thinks he’s hit on the perfect alternative to flowers, puppies and sports cars: mensches!

Forget the firemen and the nature scenes! Adam’s Nice Jewish Guys 2011 calendar showcases twelve down-to-earth, Jewish guys any mom would approve of and any guy would choose to befriend. What’s even better is that Adam has agreed to donate a generous portion of the profit to MAZON.

For more information or to purchase a calendar, you can click here.

As an anti-hunger advocacy organization, we love it when others to speak out and take action on behalf of hungry people! Use these people as inspiration and create your own project to raise money. Or if you or anyone you know is already doing something similar, please let us know. We want to applaud your efforts.

Related posts:

1. Chicago Anti-Hunger Advocacy Shabbaton
2. Seattle Bar Mitzvah Project Raises $2200 to Fight Hunger
3. Team MAZON Bowls to Strike Out Hunger

One of the greatest simchas in life comes from sharing with others. For the past 25 years, MAZON has partnered with families across the country to bring a bit of joy from a birth, bar/bat mitzvah or wedding into the lives of people at risk of hunger. With nearly 15% of Americans living in food-insecure households, our work is far from over.

In our efforts to continue raising awareness and funds to eliminate hunger, MAZON has joined forces with Crowdrise, the latest fundraising & volunteering network, to launch a profile at: http://www.crowdrise.com/mazon. Crowdrise makes it easier than ever to share your lifecycle events and tzedakah projects with the world. Simply sign up, create a project and select MAZON as recipient of the money that is raised. Crowdrise empowers you to tell your story in your own words, post pictures and video, and share your project on Twitter and Facebook to encourage friends and family to help you reach your fundraising goal.

You don’t need to wait for a celebration to help spread the word! If you wish to contribute, MAZON has created a project for our “Hunger Doesn’t Take A Summer Vacation” Campaign. The money raised will be used to help the 30 million children who rely on free or reduced school lunch. To see the project’s profile and make a donation, visit: http://www.crowdrise.com/hungerdoesnttakeasum/fundraiser/mazon. Create a Crowdrise account by August 15th and we could win a $236 donation to feed hungry kids year-round!

The special moments in our lives provide us with two opportunities: to get lots of gifts and cake, and to give something back as well. By asking your friends and family members to support MAZON on Crowdrise, you can give yourself the opportunity to help millions of people who suffer from hunger all over our nation.

Related posts:

1. MAZON Supporters Use Creativity to Fight Hunger
2. In Lieu of Gifts…
3. Introducing A.C.T.: End Hunger & MAZON’s iPhone App!