The Connection

“At my table this morning there was a massage therapist from Old Town; he came with a girl who had just been accepted to medical school,” said Dave Ingold, a volunteer from Emmanuel on the Hill Church who had been there all day. “I was amazed two young people like that would give their time to do this.”

There were second graders and seniors, a rabbi and a rector; there were doctors, 13 U.S. Public Health Service officers, lobbyists, and grandfathers. They volunteered their time on Sunday, March 15 at Temple Beth El to sit around a table mixing sugar, baking soda, salt, potassium chloride, packing it in clear envelopes which would be sent to countries like Liberia, or perhaps Syria, or India, and given to people suffering from dehydration. One in 70 of these packets will save a life; all of them will improve health in countries with chronic diseases like amoebic dysentery.

“We never intended to keep doing this, “ said Bobbie Gershman. “A friend of mine had a friend from church who wanted to involve another religious organization in her rehydration project.” Then the Tsunami hit, and she plunged into the project, sending packets to Indonesia. At the end of the day, they were exhausted, and as they cleaned up one of the team looked at her and said: “When we do this next year .…”

That was 11 years ago. One year, they did 19,000 packets. Each packet they put together costs about 24 cents to make. Gershman goes out to buy the supplies with her cohort. Twelve hundred pounds is a lot of sugar. Then, they hope people will come to help.

They never do a formal announcement, but people have been coming. Each year, someone hears about the effort and joins up. The U.S. Public Health Service joined in, the Emmanuel Church on the Hill became a partner with Temple Beth El, students came from the University of Maryland. Families came. The Rev. Bruce Stewart from Goodwin House in Alexandria brought 23 volunteers. Dr. Barry Rothman, gynecologist in Alexandria for 36 years said his girlfriend, Marsha Kaufman, brought him to the event. Dani Sassin, 11, said she had been doing this for a “long time.” Brenda King was part of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington; her group was doing outreach. Elizabeth Thomas, a graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health was there, noting that she had used packets like this in her work in Bangladesh. She could think of many times when a packet like this had saved the life of a woman or a baby in the crowded and underfunded hospital where she worked in Sylhet.

James Holcombe, of Arlington, who teaches history at J.E.B Stuart Middle School, was there. He encouraged some of the students at Stuart to join the Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club and found an enthusiastic group of young people. He and his young Rotarians have been doing the rehydration packets for 8 years. The Rotary Club of Bailey’s Crossroads was named Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) 2009-10 Partner of the Year for its work with Stuart High School. Holcombe believes bringing his young people to events like this helps develop responsible and ethical future leaders. As he brought them over to say hello, two girls from Falls Church, Fatima Ahmed and Amani Anderson, and a boy from Annandale, Sam Laveson, it was easy to see why he was named “Everyday Hero” in 2014. His enthusiasm for youths, causes, and putting the two together was infectious.

Jared Goldstein and Liz Brodie were in the 10th grade confirmation class at Beth El and this was part of their community service. Abigael Ajuma was there, from Kenya. She is at Episcopal High School and living with a host family. Amanda Eisenhour, a 10th grader at T.C. Williams, came as part of the Emmanuel on the Hill group. She has come to the event for seven years. And Arlene Hewitt of Alexandria was there. Organizer extraordinaire, she bustled about the room, pointing out the work by students and octogenarians alike.

An announcement came over the P.A. at 2:10 p.m.: “12,375 packets.” Everyone clapped and resumed passing the sugars and envelopes. They were shooting for the goal of 20,000. As they closed, at 3 p.m., Deborah Schaffer came over to supervise the counting of packets. She would have to finish whatever the volunteers don’t finish. Like Gershman, she has been doing this for 11 years. Gershman and Akuamoa Boat from Ghana, who has worked at the Temple for 20 years, packed boxes.

Tally: Packets made: 19,970.