PHOTO: Chabad at Reed Co-Director Chani Bialo, center, gathers students to bake and deliver challah each week for Loaves of Love.

Each issue, the Jewish Review is featuring a profile of one of the 18 local beneficiary agencies of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s 2022 Annual Campaign.

CHABAD AT REED
AREA OF SERVICE: Outreach at Reed College
503-752-2258 | JewishReed.com 
2022 ALLOCATION: $10,800
MISSION: Chabad Jewish Student Center at Reed College was founded to build a Jewish community by promoting Jewish pride, study and celebration for all Jews regardless of background or affiliation.

Located across the street from the north entrance of Reed College, Chabad at Reed offers a range of programming including Torah classes, Shabbat and holiday programing, Loaves of Love, and casual conversation over tea and cookies. Jewish Education Executive Directors Rabbi Dov and Chani Bialo welcome students for free holiday and Shabbat meals (RSVPs requested online at JewishReed.com.)
“Chabad at Reed is thankful for the Jewish Federation’s support and for the many lives that were enhanced as a result of our partnership together,” says Rabbi Bialo.
“As this year celebrates Hakel, a year of Jewish gatherings, our goal is to work with the students to try to reach out to their wider group of friends and ensure that every Jewish student feels like they are part of the larger Jewish family,” he says. 
The couple appreciates the many phone calls they get from alumni as they reach milestones in their personal lives. For instance, they recently received a call from Sarah “letting us know that she just graduated medical school and that we were the first people she called after her immediate family.”
The couple feel they have the privilege and responsibility to be there for every Jewish student and to try to connect to them wherever they are in their lives. 
“It’s not about the fanfare of having 100 students at a program,” says Rabbi Bialo. “It’s about each and every student feeling like that party is there for them.”