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Come share a Kosher Hot Dog with Kol Ami: Annual Park Picnic plus an opportunity to invest in Tikkun Olam

Late August Shabbat in the Park


Late August is one of my favorite times of year. The evenings are warm, the light is beautiful, and I cannot imagine a better way to spend Shabbat than together in the park, eating, singing, playing and creating Jewish space in nature.



Please join me on August 21 at 6:00 PM at a lovely, small and very green park in Kirkland. The location will be provided when you register.


Come as a member or a guest. Bring your family, bring a friend or simply bring yourself.


Whoever shows up is the Kol Ami community. That is how we roll.


Hinei mah tov umah na’im, shevet achim gam yachad.


How good and beautiful it is when we sit together.


By the grace of God, we are a community rooted in kindness. Kindness is our currency. We raise just enough to keep things going. Just enough to keep Jewish space in Kirkland and across the Eastside open to everyone who needs a place to be Jewish.


We are low-barrier and inclusive. We care deeply about doing good and bringing mitzvot into the world. We also care deeply about being a Jewish sanctuary in a world that can often feel hostile to Jews.


We are in this together. We are a community keeping a little shul going, and we are a community bringing goodness into the world through acts of love and kindness.


We also love to celebrate. To sing. To eat. To play. To hang out. To simply be together for Shabbat.


This year, we are launching Kol Ami Cares, an ongoing effort to make loving our neighbors a visible and regular part of our life together.


Throughout 5787, we will cook and deliver meals for people participating in Kirkland’s Safe Parking Program, collect food and household necessities, support people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity, and build relationships with organizations doing this work in our community.

Our fall projects will include:

  • A Welcome Home Drive for residents of Horizon at Totem Lake

  • The High Holiday JFS Food Drive

  • Safe Parking dinners in September and October, with additional meals planned for November, December and January

  • A Faith & Blue food collection for Hopelink

  • A Thanksgiving drive supporting Riverton Park United Methodist Church

  • A Hanukkah Giving Tree for Horizon at Totem Lake


You do not have to do everything. Cook one dinner. Bring one household item. Fill one grocery bag. Help with a delivery. Organize a drive. Or join the team and help us imagine what Kol Ami Cares can become.

Our tradition does not ask us to wait until we can solve hunger, homelessness or poverty before acting.


We feed people. We welcome people. We share what we have. We build relationships. We show up.


This is how we love our neighbors.


And this is how we love our own people, our community and our little Jewish tribe.


Join us on August 21 at 6:00 PM for dinner and a Shabbat service.


For community.


For connection.


For singing together.


For Shabbat under the late-summer sky.

Sign-up for Kol Ami Cares


We will open at our Back to Shul event.


B'shalom,

Rabbi Kinberg


More info about our tzedakaj recipients:

Here is a curated list of official pages, donation information and news stories for the organizations and programs Kol Ami Cares is supporting in 5787.


Horizon at Totem Lake

Horizon is the affordable-housing community whose residents will receive the Welcome Home Drive and Hanukkah Giving Tree. It is a community rather than a charity.


Jewish Family Service of Seattle

Kol Ami’s High Holiday food drive supports JFS and its Polack Food Bank. JFS reports that 2,708 households received food through its food bank and home-delivery programs in FY2025.


Lake Washington United Methodist Church Safe Parking

Kol Ami will prepare and deliver dinners for women, transgender people and families with children who are living in vehicles. The program provides a safe place to park as well as bathrooms, a kitchen, Wi-Fi, refrigeration, mail access and community support.


Hopelink

Kol Ami’s food collection will benefit Hopelink, which operates five no-cost food markets and a Mobile Market. Its Kirkland/Northshore center also provides financial, energy, employment, family-development and transportation assistance.


Riverton Park United Methodist Church

Kol Ami’s Thanksgiving project will support Riverton’s work with unhoused people, migrants and asylum seekers. The church also houses the Tukwila Pantry and the South King County Response Center.


National Faith & Blue

Faith & Blue is not itself a charity. It is a national community-building initiative connecting faith communities, residents and law enforcement. Kol Ami’s local project uses that partnership to collect food for Hopelink.



 
 
 

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