Soup’s on: Temple Har Shalom’s Mini-Mitzvah Day feeds Park City school families

Batch-of-scratch soup ingredients from Temple Har Shalom to the Park City School District Community Outreach program via the Park City Education Foundation. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — The Park City School District’s community outreach program received a donation of batch-of-scratch soup ingredients on Monday after congregants of Temple Har Shalom held a Mini-Mitzvah Day alongside a representative of the Park City Education Foundation.

Temple Har Shalom has held Mitzvah Days for decades as part of a national and international movement encouraging service to people and organizations in need. Once word spread that a large number of volunteers were ready to roll up their sleeves, local nonprofits lined up to be included.

So much so that one gathering per year was no longer enough. A few years ago, the congregation began organizing mini-mitzvahs with more frequency, including this spring’s event. Sunday’s volunteers were dispersed to Hope Alliance, Jewish Family Service Food Pantry, Nuzzles & Co Rescue Ranch, Peace House and People’s Health Clinic. In September, that list is typically twice as long.

Most of those organizations have participated year after year, but this marked the first time the Park City School District has been part of the effort.

The connection came through Suzanne Jacoby, who wears multiple hats in Park City’s nonprofit sector. She serves as chair of the Park City Education Foundation, as an executive committee board member of Temple Har Shalom and as chair of the temple’s social action committee. Through those roles, she’s seen firsthand the food insecurity issues around town and reached out to the school district to see what could be done.

“We know that the Park City School District serves a big population of students receiving free and reduced lunch, and we wanted to be able to show support for them and their families,” Jacoby told TownLift. “And we thought assembling a batch-of-scratch soup was a good way to help them get a warm, nutritious meal outside of the school day.”

On the receiving end was Belsy Moscoso, community outreach program manager at McPolin Elementary School, who distributed the meals to the other schools in the district.

Some of the volunteers were students of both Temple Har Shalom’s religious school and the Park City School District — making the effort a community connection in more ways than one.