Last night, most of us celebrated. For many elders on NYC’s Lower East Side, however, Purim was no party. They are too worried about this recession. According to Misha G. Avramoff, co-director of Project Ezra, many of the elders “are petrified because of the economic breakdown and nervous about not having enough food. They barely have enough to eat but they don’t like to ask, don’t like accepting donations.” What to do? Like Esther and Mordechai conspiring to foil Haman’s evil plot, Avramoff consulted one of Project Ezra’s partner schools, the Abraham Joshua Heschel School. They hatched a plan. When the elders visit the school on Shushan Purim they will take home “real food” Mishloach Manot.

“It’s a double mitzvah” explained Rabbi Anne Ebersman, Judaic Studies Programming Director of the Heschel School. “It is both mishloach manot and matanot l’evyonim, the children fulfill the obligation of giving gifts and also giving to those in need.”

“Kids need to see what is affecting the world and that it can be worked on, and that they are responsible for the fate of their grandparents,” said Avramoff “Tikkun olam is something that you build.”

Is food a building block for Tikkun Olam? Rabbi Ebersman thinks so. “Elementary school children are still very concrete. It means much more to them to go to the store with their parent, buy a box of pasta and a couple of cans of tuna fish, put them in a bag and personally hand that bag to someone who needs the food. It gives them a sense of having accomplished something.”

Starting nine years ago the elders at Project Ezra began making monthly visits with the fifth graders at the Heschel School. “Over the last few months,” explained Mindy Sandomir, a fifth grade teacher, “the children and teachers have heard that the elders are very worried . . . what if they don’t have enough social security to shop for the food they need?”

Together with Avramoff, Heschel students and teachers realized that mishloach manot were an ideal opportunity to provide elders with food that they needed but might not accept if it were considered charity. The fifth grade students asked all students of the lower school to please contribute nutritious items like cans of tuna, pasta, soups and oatmeal as well as cookies and treats. These items were then packaged into gift bags. They have been preparing for weeks.

On Shushan Purim thirty elders will join the third, fourth and fifth grades for the fun and excitement of Purim. They will also take home food that will nurture them for many weeks. And while the food might only last a few weeks, Sandomir remarked “this is a project that lasts a lifetime.”

When the megillah scroll is rolled tight, our costumes bundled back in their storage boxes and our mishloach manot paraphernalia swept to a corner of the counter, an elder will open a gift bag, pick out a sweet treat and prepare the soup that he or she also found there. Soon a hearty aroma will be this elder’s companion. Sweetness comes in many forms. For thirty elders of Project Ezra, this year’s sweetness will come as sustenance.