Sharing the joy with a ‘mitzvah shower’

When Harriet Contract's daughter, Carrie, became engaged last year, Contract remembered something her daughter had said to her a few years before:

She didn't want a bridal shower.

And this gave the north Bethesda resident an idea.

If her daughter thought that being showered with gifts when she already had so much was, somehow, unfair, why not do something to share her good fortune?

So, after confirming that her daughter still felt the same way about traditional showers, Contract suggested having a "mitzvah shower." She would invite her daughter and her daughter's friends to join together to do a mitzvah project in honor of Carrie's upcoming marriage.

The younger Contract agreed enthusiastically.

The two women looked for projects that were related to Carrie's career in dietetics. They selected Manna Food, an organization that fights hunger in Montgomery County, and the Carrie Simon House of Washington Hebrew Congregation as the beneficiaries and composed an invitation that was sent in the young woman's name.

In the invitation, she explained that she felt "so blessed" for having found her fiance, and then said that they were "both committed to sharing our joy, and at this special time in our lives, give back to our community, or practice tikkun olam, the repairing of the world."

She requested that participants "bring nonperishable food items and a gently used or new kitchen utensil to be donated," and show up in casual clothes in front of her mother's condo on a Sunday morning last June.

Word got out among friends and, according to Harriet Contract, "donations started showing up in my driveway."

By the morning of the shower, the many boxes of donated food and supplies were loaded into cars and the moveable shower headed off to Manna Food Center where the participants delivered, sorted and boxed donated items that would be distributed to needy individuals and families.

Contract reported that everyone involved enjoyed the experience, including the bride-to-be. One of the participants sent her a note thanking her "for planning and hosting such a beautiful event! It filled everybody with such a good feeling — you could feel the uplifting spirit."

When there is such a disparity between the haves and have-nots in society, Harriet Contract says, the time might be right for the concept of mitzvah showers to take hold.