When Hurricane Harvey rained down on their wedding, they turned lemons into lemonade
Like rain on your wedding day, postponing the happiest day of your life and making other people happy is a bit ironic. But it didn’t feel like it when Dayna Skolkin and Josh Tillis served the Hurricane Harvey-hit three-course meal for their rainy Houston wedding.
Usually the Forward 50 honors one person at a time, but in order to respect their generosity and unity we decided to make an emergency exception and treat Skolkin and Tillis as one.
The couple were scheduled to have a Shabbat dinner prior to the wedding at a Jewish nonprofit that provides shelter and services to patients being treated at the nearby hospital. The Aishel House organization was founded in part by Skolkin’s late mother. When the hurricane came down, Skolkin and Tillis, both 28, decided to cancel their wedding.
But they still had to figure out what to do with the food for their 100 guests. Together with Rochel Lazaroff, co-director of Aishel House, they decided it shouldn’t be wasted.
As soon as the nearby streets were clear, the couple went to Aishel House and with a group of volunteers prepared food for their friends and family and gave it to the hungry people of Houston. Skolkin, a nurse, chopped chicken while Tillis, who works in real estate, rolled it up in breadcrumbs.
“We knew the way to feel better about the situation is to go to the community and volunteer,” Skolkin said. Her mother, a longtime volunteer who died after battling breast cancer, was the inspiration for her work. “It was just the obvious choice for us,” said Skolkin.
The couple will now celebrate their wedding in December.