6 minute read
The Homel Family: Faith in Our One Big Community
Resident Feature by Liz Burnett
Photos courtesy of Sierra Clark Photography www.SierraClarkPhoto.com
Meet The Homel Family: Stewart and Lauren and their two sons, Derek and Elliot, Broomall neighbors whose lives are full of community involvement and service that springs from their belief that we are all one big community.
Stewart grew up in Montgomery County. He attended Drexel University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Engineering Sciences, a unique degree Drexel offered for people like Stewart who wanted a business degree that would prepare him to work in a technical environment. He then continued on at Drexel, to earn his MBA in Finance.
Lauren grew up in Ocean County, NJ. She attended Penn State in University Park, and earned a B.S. in Quantitative Business Analysis with a minor in Business Logistics. During college, Lauren was very involved in her sorority, and still keeps in touch with many of her sorority sisters. After graduation, she started working in Chester County for North Carolina-based SAS, an enterprise software company that specializes in data analysis, statistics, and business solutions. She also studied part-time at Villanova University and earned her MBA in Marketing.
Lauren and Stewart Homel
Photo courtesy of Sierra Clark Photography www.SierraClarkPhoto.com
Stewart and Lauren met in 2001, on a blind date set up for them by two acquaintances who happened to know each other and thought that Lauren and Stewart might “hit it off.” They did! After dating for a year, they got engaged. In 2003, they got married at Valley Forge Military Academy. Their honeymoon — “the trip of a lifetime!” according to Lauren — was to South Africa, and included touring Cape Town followed by some exciting safari drives in Botswana!
In 2004, Stewart started working at SAP’s Newtown Square headquarters in Finance before recently moving to Sales Operations Support. He finds his work very interesting and satisfying. He enjoys working collaboratively with various teams to help achieve their goals and results. He also is glad to be part of SAP, a global software company committed to diversity, wellness, environmental issues and overall customer and employee success.
During Lauren’s 20+ years with SAS, her roles have included serving as a technical pre-sales consultant and also doing some marketing. In her current role as a Customer Success Manager, Lauren enjoys working closely with some large, key customers, to ensure they’re getting value from SAS software after they license it. Since 2007, Lauren has worked for SAS from her home office. “This work environment took some time getting used to and it can be isolating at times,” she said, “but the flexibility it affords is priceless.”
(L-R) Elliot and Derek Homel
Photo courtesy of Sierra Clark Photography www.SierraClarkPhoto.com
Stewart and Lauren’s older son, Derek, is a 7th-grader at Paxon Hollow Middle School. He played fall and winter Marple Sports Arena (MSA) flag football, and winter MNBA basketball. Derek has also played baseball in the Marple Township Little League (MTLL) since he was 5. He looks forward to his first year playing in the Babe Ruth Broomall Newtown Baseball League. Derek’s sporty self is also a good student who likes to draw and enjoys music.
This month, Derek will turn 13. He is preparing for his bar mitzvah in May. At this milestone ceremony, Derek will assume all the responsibilities of a Jewish adult, participating in synagogue services and taking his place in the Jewish community. For his bar mitzvah community service project, Derek is collecting gently used baseball and softball equipment for Pitch In for Baseball and Softball, a nonprofit that provides much-needed equipment to under-served leagues, schools and organizations worldwide. The response from the local leagues Derek contacted about donations has been amazing: He has collected almost a truckload of donated equipment! In the future, Derek hopes he’ll be in one of the first crews to land on Mars in 2030.
Lauren and Stewart’s younger son, Elliot, age 11, is a self-confident, funny and easy-going 5th-grader at Worrall Elementary. He has also played MTLL baseball since age 5. Elliot likes pitching (because of all the action!) and playing in the outfield. He also played fall and winter MSA flag football, and loved playing quarterback and the fact that all his friends were on his team, which his dad coached. At school, Elliot was selected to serve on the Safety Patrol. He monitors the area by the upstairs doors, to make sure the kids are safe as they walk downstairs. Elliot is also on Worrall’s Reading Olympics team, which just participated in the annual competition at Marple Newtown High School. Reading is one of Elliot’s favorite hobbies, and he may hold the world record for having read all 7 Harry Potter books in only 3 weeks! He thinks he may study to be an Engineer when he grows up.
The Homel Family (L-R): Derek, Stewart, Lauren and Elliot
Photo courtesy of Sierra Clark Photography www.SierraClarkPhoto.com
In 2005, the Homel Family moved from Chester County to their current home in Broomall.
Stewart has enjoyed giving back to the community by serving as Manager/Coach for his sons’ MTLL baseball teams and also for their MSA flag football teams.
Lauren’s community involvement is extensive and inspiring. For 20+ years, she has been an active member of the Junior League of Philadelphia. She has served that organization in many different capacities, both on the Board of Directors and in various support roles, and has also chaired many community projects. Lauren also served on the Organizing Committee that planned and ran the first TEDxRoseTree event held at the Media Theatre in November. Besides coaching a speaker and helping to keep the website up to date, she efficiently handled many of the required logistics to make that complex event so successful and enlightening. She plans to serve again on that committee, which is already planning TEDxRoseTree 2020.
Lauren and Elliot also volunteer at Kids Against Hunger Philadelphia, a nonprofit that provides specially formulated nutritious food to “impoverished children and families around the world... and around the corner.” Elliot and Lauren join other local volunteers in Broomall, under the direction of local KAHP Director Heather LaPierre, to scoop, fill or weigh bags of food that get distributed to kids who are missing meals all over Philadelphia, the U.S. and the world. Elliot likes combining helping with talking and getting to know other volunteers there. Lauren is thrilled that KAHP is a fun and kid-friendly way to do some good. They both hope this article will help bring KAHP more volunteers and some donations.
The Homels are all very involved in the services and programs at their synagogue in Broomall, Congregation Beth El - Ner Tamid (CBENT). Stewart is part of the Men’s Club, and plays on the CBENT softball team. Lauren serves on CBENT’s religious school Board, and helps organize many activities for the students. “One of our favorite traditions,” said Lauren, “is our interfaith Passover and Hanukkah holiday celebrations with students from St. Mary Magdalen Catholic School in Media. It’s such a nice way to bring all the kids and their families together and learn about each other’s religion, culture, and traditions, and to reinforce the idea that we are all one big community and should be accepting of everyone’s backgrounds and beliefs.” CBENT’s religious school places great emphasis on giving back or doing what you can to help make the world a better place. Derek’s bar mitzvah service project is an excellent example of how to put that intention into action that gets heartwarming results.
For holidays and vacations, the Homel Family enjoys visiting relatives and friends in PA and neighboring states. But on a daily basis, they all enjoy their local extended family: the Broomall community and their synagogue congregation. The Homels are doing their part to show their belief that we can be one big happy family.
Do you know a family that readers of our magazine might like to meet in an upcoming issue? Nominate them by email to Liz Burnett at LBurnett@BestVersionMedia.com.
