Solu Receives Humanitarian Award from Margaret's Village     We are thrilled to share that Solu received the Sr. Margaret Traxler Award for Humanitarian Work from Margaret's Village on October 9.  For the past half century, Margaret’s Village has run homeless shelters and a senior center on Chicago’s South Side, with a special focus on women and children. They do incredible work on a shoestring budget: helping move people off the streets of Englewood and into stable homes and livelihoods. Over the past year, Solu has been building a bridge between the Jewish community and Margaret's Village. Our partnership began after a tornado damaged their shelter's kitchen; Solu stepped in with emergency food, and a beautiful partnership was born. Since then:  Solu teen volunteers cleaned up the shelter’s yard We brought holiday gifts, sufganiyot, and warm clothes to children in the shelter Shelter Director Angela Hicks inspired our volunteers on a Shabbat visit to Skokie An enterprising 12-year-old Solu volunteer, Yafa Gryka, delivered one year's worth of toilet paper On Tisha b'Av, we assembled two years’ worth of “shower kits” for residents Together, we’ve built a bridge of compassion between Skokie and Englewood. Margaret’s Village leadership has been deeply moved by our friendship -- and the fact that we've "shown up," traveling far from Skokie to lend a hand. Their award recognizes not only our work with their shelter, but all our volunteers' work -- and Solu's unique role as an Orthodox chesed initiative building connections to communities across our region. In befriending Margaret's Village, we've tried to fulfill the words of Yishayahu, which we will read in the Yom Kippur haftorah: וַעֲנִיִּ֥ים מְרוּדִ֖ים תָּ֣בִיא בָ֑יִת כִּֽי־תִרְאֶ֤ה עָרֹם֙ וְכִסִּית֔וֹ “Take the wandering poor into your home, and when you see the naked, clothe him!” (Isaiah 58:7).