[COMMUNICATED] Quiet. Still. Empty. These are lonely words, describing a home without children. You may think this is a concept foreign to you, but statistics indicate that one out of every six couples are faced with childlessness, these words being common to them. This means that someone you love, whether you know it or not, is struggling with this and is a beneficiary of Bonei Olam’s support.

Everyone dreams of the day they’ll become a parent, a father. To wrap their son in a tallis and take them to cheder. To read parsha sheets by the shabbos table, practice leining for his bar mitzvah, and proudly walk him down to the chuppah to begin a new generation. A future that is void of these promises causes untold pain and heartache, fear of the unknown creeping out of every corner.

Imagine the suffering of a childless couple at a family simcha, bright-faced laughing children running around, not one belonging to them. Having to smile at the Chanukah party, but the weight of heartache overpowering any other emotions. Imagine the embarrassment of a yungerman when his chavrusah pauses to ask him about his children, only to turn red with discomfort when the reply is “I don’t have children.”

Because Bonei Olam believes that no couple should have to endure the pain and emotional trauma alone, the organization serves as a bedrock of support for those couples.

Currently, Bonei Olam maintains 18 regional chapters in 5 countries around the world. Each year, Bonei Olam provides millions of dollars in financial assistance to cover the prohibitive costs of fertility treatments and medical procedures. To date, over 6,000 children have been brought into the world through the financial assistance and resources provided by Bonei Olam.

Bonei Olam is internationally recognized for its programs that cover every step in the process of seeking solutions to infertility. Included in its litany of services are generous financial support, initial consultations, basic and advanced treatments, work up, medication, high-risk pregnancy, pre-implantation, genetic diagnosis, pre-and-post cancer fertility, info on insurance policies, education, awareness, adoption assistance and much more.

As a fast growing community with hundreds of thousands of couples, Lakewood has a greater need then ever for Bonei Olam’s support and aid. There is prodigious necessity of giving back, supporting not only unnamed, faceless couples who struggle with childlessness, but helping our friends, our family, our neighbors, the one-in-six in our lives. In appreciation for the struggles these couples face, both financially and emotionally, we need to step up and stretch out our hands.

In anticipation for Bonei Olam’s annual gala fundraising dinner on February 1st in Lake Terrace, parlor meetings will be hosted in neighborhoods all over town in appreciation for all Bonei Olam does for childless couples.

Tonight, January 5th, there will be a parlor meeting taking place in the Chestnut area, at the Berkowitz home on 1153 Tiffany Lane at 8:30 PM. Along with a deluxe buffet, there will be a special kumzitz accompanied by Strumz Orchestra.

There will also be a Parlor meeting in the Lakeview area at the Steinberg home on 104 Aspen Court, at 8:30 PM. Accompanied by the buffet will be an incredible video presentation as well as heartfelt words from Rabbi Bochner, founder of Bonei Olam.

In the next few weeks there will be parlor meetings and Melave Malkas to honor Bonei Olam’s work, and to help the generations of Bonei Olam children grow by breaking down the prohibitive boundaries financial expenses can build. Bonei Olam’s very name implicates the reverberations caused from opening our hands and pockets to this worthy organization, building not just generations, but our own world of giving and kindness around us.