The Origins
Eli Winkelman started Challah for Hunger (CfH) as a student at Scripps College in 2004. She began baking challah (a traditional Jewish bread) with friends and quickly realized she could use challah-baking to mobilize and educate others. They began selling the challah and donating the profits to social justice causes. Word of Eli’s project spread, and soon Eli was guiding students from all corners of the globe as they started their own CfH chapters.
A decade after Eli’s first challah sale, CfH continues to thrive. Currently, thousands of student participants (both Jewish and non-Jewish) on 80+ campuses across the world gather on a regular basis to continue the centuries-old tradition of baking challah together in an inclusive environment. For all the volunteers and many of the customers, CfH provides opportunities to be involved in a fun and dedicated community, address humanitarian problems, develop and practice new skills, gain business and leadership experience, and engage in traditions of challah and tzedakah.
Challah at UVa
UVa’s own chapter of CfH was established in 2011. CfH at UVa bakes delicious challah from scratch every Tuesday and Wednesday of the semester. We run entirely on volunteer efforts to help us make, braid, bake and sell the challah each week. CfH at UVa sells plain, chocolate chip, cinnamon sugar, and garlic rosemary flavors, as well as a flavor of the week. Plain loaves are $3 and flavored loaves are $4.
Today, CfH at UVa continues to succeed and is one of CfH’s most successful chapters! Thanks to generous donations from members of the Charlottesville community, such as Gerry Newman from the Albemarle Baking Company, CfH at UVa is able to donate almost every penny of its weekly sales on the Lawn and at Congregation Beth Israel. CfH at UVa donates all of its proceeds to hunger relief organizations, with 50% going to Swipe Out Hunger and 50% going to the local Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Since 2011, the UVa chapter of Challah for Hunger has raised over $100,000 for hunger relief organizations!
Learn more about these organizations here:
Challah for Hunger at UVA 