LETTERS - Sept. 21

ISSUE | NEEDY

Helping hands

The Jewish community is not immune to hardship ("Area's Jewish population is not immune to poverty," Sept. 16). I am a packer and driver for the Beth Sholom Mitzvah Pantry. It is very gratifying when you go to a person's house and are able to provide basic food items. We only pack twice a month, but our tight-knit group of semi-retirees and retirees feels as though we are helping and hope that one day we can break the poverty cycle.

|Ann Gold, Philadelphia, gold500219@aol.com

Charity is the key

Reality has finally hit that the area Jewish population does not all go to Florida in the winter ("Area's Jewish population is not immune to poverty," Sept. 16). Indeed, it might open the eyes of many to find that many of the Russian-speaking Jewish people are also below the poverty level. They have to have help from outside agencies, such as Mitzvah pantries and anonymous donors. Jews are survivors, but it's evident that living in the Philadelphia area does not make it easy to survive.

|Gloria Gelman, Philadelphia

ISSUE | TONY AUTH

Memory maker

Tony Auth created panels of wit, whimsy, and tenderness - all while bringing a cutting edge to his work without falling into the trap of negativity and denigration which afflicts so many modern political cartoonists ("Auth spoke for the voiceless," Sept. 15).

He evoked emotions across the spectrum and some of his memorial cartoons - Jacques Cousteau's from 1997 comes to mind - brought an instant tear to my eye. Auth's style and range will be missed by all those who had the pleasure to view his incredible body of work in The Inquirer and in other newspapers through syndication.

|Glenn Stone, Philadelphia

ISSUE | N.Y. CLIMATE MARCH

Protect the planet as God's creation

In anticipation of the largest march for climate justice on Sunday in New York, I was reminded of Catholic leaders' call to raise our voices for all God's creations. In Pennsylvania - a state with many coal mines - that means supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as it regulates coal-fired power plants to reduce carbon emissions. Now is the time to use our moral voice.

|Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark, director, SSJ Earth Center, Philadelphia, mclark@ssjphila.org

ISSUE | GAYS ATTACKED

Rallying to victims' aid offers a sign of hope

The recent gay bashing in downtown Philadelphia - what I consider to be a hate crime - has no place in our fine city ("Gay attack a hate crime," Sept. 19). But Pennsylvania is one of 15 states that exclude sexual orientation and gender identity in its hate crime definition. As a longtime supporter of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, I call on state lawmakers to make changes to the state's hate-crime law so that prosecutors have all the tools they need to obtain harsh convictions for such heinous acts.

There is one bright spot, and that is that good and decent folks aided police through social media. These were folks as diverse as our city - crossing all races, religious beliefs, and, yes, sexual orientation boundaries - with one thing in common: the recognition that we are in this together and should not allow hate crimes to go unanswered.

|U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, Philadelphia

ISSUE | FLEETING PATRIMONY

Lost moments of discovery for kids, parents

Philadelphia is about to lose a treasure in the Maurice Sendak collection of drawings, manuscripts, proofs, and rare editions, which has been at the Rosenbach Museum and Library for many years, delighting and educating Philadelphians and tourists about the award-winning artist and illustrator ("Where the wild things aren't," Sept. 14). Now the collection will be moved to Ridgefield, Conn., and become part of a permanent repository for Sendak's work. A generation of children learned about history, dreams, and life, while their parents also marveled at Sendak's breathtaking work. Often Sendak added snippets to his illustrations. For example, at the bottom of one page, he draws a cockroach and states that the bug has nothing to do with the story, that the bug is just curious about what is happening on the page. The cockroach asks provocatively, "Wouldn't you be?"

|Susan Jaffe, Philadelphia

Pa. nest-egg investment decision puzzles

As an admittedly unsophisticated investor, can someone please explain to the public why chief investment officer Anthony Clark's $250 million investment of the state employees retirement pension fund into the Tiger Management Advisors hedge fund was any different than putting $250 million on "odd" at a roulette table in Atlantic City ("Report clears ex-Pa. pension manager," Sept. 18)?

|James Famiglio, Ardmore, jamief639@comcast.net