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The Richmond Jewish Coalition for Literacy launched a school supply drive to support the students at Swansboro and Laburnum Elementary schools as they returned to a virtual school program. Over $1,600 was raised to purchase muchneeded supplies for the students to bring home. Unfortunately, all mentor programs have been postponed by the schools until at least January. We will continue to be in touch with the schools regularly to offer other support. For more information about RJCL, contact Sara Rosenbaum at srosenbaum@jewishrichmond.org.
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RJCL: Back to School support
Jewish Community Happenings
Back to School supplies are stacked on tables at Swansboro Elementary School for parents to pick up. More than $1,600 was raised for the effort, helped by mentors from Richmond Jewish Coalition for Literacy.
Parents pick up school supplies for their children at Swansboro Elementary School in Richmond. Contributed Photos
Hadassah Happenings
#HadassahVotes 2020
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ith #HadassahVotes, Hadassah is mobilizing our members around all phases of voter engagement — online and in our communities. Join us and help us mark the 100th anniversary of women securing the vote by making this the largest turnout of women voters. “At this moment in American history, two things are clear: with freedoms and rights come responsibilities, and women’s voices are needed more than ever,” writes Hadassah National President Rhoda Smolow. Civic engagement is central to Hadassah’s promise to effect change – from promoting voting and an informed citizenry, to writing and meeting directly with elected officials on issues that matter. Join the Hadassah Voting Team Hadassah is participating in Vision2020Votes, a national, nonpartisan effort to get more women than ever registered and voting in the 2020 elections. Via the online platform, Motivote, anyone can join Hadassah’s Voting Team and regional teams. Request an absentee ballot, add Election Day to your calendar, help someone else register, visit the Hadassah National Action Center and more. Let’s Break the Record for Women Voting! Vision2020Votes is a national, nonpartisan effort to get more women than ever registered and voting in the 2020 elections. There’s no better way to increase the power of women’s voices in decisions that affect society, and to honor the suffragists who won the fight for women’s right to vote 100 years ago.
www.JewishRichmond.org
Why do so many people who have registered, signaling their intention to vote, not carry through? In too many cases, life gets in the way. They’re busy, miss the mail-in deadline, don’t know where to go, don’t have transportation, don’t have a babysitter, etc. People who intend to vote are far more likely to overcome these barriers if they join a team of people they know who all commit to voting, make a plan to vote, and are encouraged, rewarded and reminded at key points along the way. That’s what happens when you sign up with Vision2020Votes and invite others to join your team. Anyone can sign up and join the Hadassah team- locally, join the Southern Seaboard Region team. For more information and to sign up, go to: Hadassah.org/Vote2020.
What’s new from Hadassah Hospitals Cause for Optimism: First “Passive Immunization” Patients Return Home In the spring of 2020, Dr. Dana Wolf, the longtime head of Hadassah’s Virology Unit, took the helm of the Clinical Virology Laboratory, beginning a highspeed race to create a serum of COVID-19 antibodies. At the same time, in an initiative spearheaded by Director General Prof. Zeev Rotstein, Hadassah’s Blood Bank began collecting antibody-rich plasma from volunteer donors. Since then, the Israeli biopharmaceutical firm Kamada, working with Hadassah Medical Organization, has produced a passive vaccine: the antiSARS-CoV-2 plasma-derived immunoglobulin (IgG) that is showing promising therapeutic results in patients
with COVID-19. The first patients treated have already been released from the hospital and have returned home. As The Times of Israel reports: “The world’s first clinical trial for a coronavirus drug made from antibodies got off to a promising start in Jerusalem, with all three patients involved released.” These early results are enough to “raise hope in Israel and around the world,” says Director General Prof. Zeev Rotstein of the Hadassah Medical Organization. Patients with any viral disease develop antibodies in their plasma that help fight off the disease. Hadassah’s Blood Bank collected plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients and transferred that plasma to Kamada, which used it to produce the appropriate antibodies, what it calls its “anti-SARS-CoV-2 plasma-derived immunoglobulin (IgG) product.” According to HMO Director General Prof. Zeev Rotstein, the treatment is being given to seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Potentially, it could also stop the progression of disease in high-risk patients who contract the virus. What makes passive immunization different from an active vaccine is that a passive vaccine uses antibodies from recovered patients while an active vaccine contains a dead or weakened version of an actual virus. Hadassah believes each of us has the power to help heal our world. To learn more about Hadassah and our Richmond chapter or to donate to this amazing organization, contact Leslie Baron, president at bubbielou57@gmail.com.
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October 2020 Tishrei/Cheshvan 5781 | the Reflector |11
