NE HI3T SOCIETY 1500 R 3T LINCOLN NE 6 8 5 0 8 - 1 6 5 1
Serving Nebraska and Eastern Iowa for more than 75 years
voLixxv
No. 41
Omaha, NE
9 Tammuz, 5758
July 3,1998
Jewish Federation hosts annual meeting
Community vollinteers lauded for achge¼emg§T|g More than 20 individual awards were given out to Federation, Centers of Excellence, and Campaign volunteers last week at the 94th annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. In addition, outgoing presidents and board members were recognized, new officers and board members installed and tributes paid to two long-time employees, Judy Cooper, who retired recently from the ADL-CRC, and Edythe Wolf, director of the Jewish Federation Library. ... In his speech, Federation President Howard Kooper said, "Our Federation has gone through a major transition during the past year and I am. proud to say we have done so with flying colors! 'We have built an infrastructure with an atmosphere of cooperation among the synagogues, Bob Belgrade, left, winner of t h e C e n t e r s o f the Justin Greenberg Young E x c e l l e n c e Leadership Award, holds hands a n ( j the Fedwith the presenter and long- e r a t i O n " he time family friend, Midge added "We Bowers, have a passionate and dedicated Executive Director in Jan Per,elman, who will see to it that the services our community enjoys will continue to grow and serve the needs of more people. "And we are overwhelmed by the generosity of this community and the response we've had to the Campus Building Project," Kooper concluded. It was announced that, in addition to the $5,175 million already pledged for the JCC Campus Rejuvenation Campaign, the annual UJA/Federation Campaign had topped the $3 million mark for the first time. Campaign co-chairmen Paul Epstein and Steve Simon and Women's Campaign co-chairmen Sandy Epstein and Barb Platt thanked the hundreds of volunteer division leaders, captains and workers who make the annual campaign successful. "With a per capita gift of $1300, Omaha's Jewish community ranks first nationally for giving to the UJA/Federation Campaign," Simon announced. "We should bo very proud of this distinction.
Women's Campaign co-chairmen Barb Platt, left, and Sandy Epstein announced that. $010,300 had been raised from the women of the Jewish community. Platt was also awarded Volunteer of the Year from the Federation.
Paul Epstein, left, and Steve Simon, accepted gifts from the community for their work as co-chairmen of the 1998 UJA/Federation Campaign, which exceeded all previous records by raising more than $3 million. In her first speech to the community as Executive Director, Jan Pereunan said, "One cannot be a Jew alone. Our greatest punishment is being cut off from the Jewish community. Our greatest brocha (blessing) is being part of it. "Thankfully we have a community that is making sure that there will never be a Jew alone." In addition to campaign reports, awards were pre?; sented to" the Centers of Excellence Volunteers-ofthe-Year: Yale Richards, who received the first (Continued on page 2)
Federation President Howard Kooper, right, presented the first Spirit of Federation Award to long-time volunteer, Yale Richards.
Barbara and Marshall Kushner chaired the annual meeting which drew more than 200 people. A video featuring the photos of the Israel $0 and original song, One People, One Destiny, written by Karen Javitch and Joanie Jacobson, was a highlight of the program.
Volunteers-of-the-year for 1908 aro, left photo: Courtney Rabb, left, Joann Reynek, Nita Green, Wally Elkon; right photo: Ellen Fennick, Kimberly Robinson, Mark Levy and Marty Rosenberg. Fennick, honored by the JCAC for stepping in as chairman when Seth Bornstein left Omaha, has been commuting to Omaha from her job as the Assistant Professor of Special and Early Childhood Education at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan. Her husband, Marty Rosenberg, honored by JELS, has also been flying back and forth from Los Angeles where he is Director of Art Education for the Getty Museum.
Sara Juster, left, Mary Rich and Nancy Wolf, organizers of the Israel 50 celebration, which attracted more than 2000 people to the JCC May 2, were awarded the Federation's Community Service Award.
Humanitarian Award winners Rabbi Sidney Brooks, left, and Rabbi Myer Kripke listened patiently as last year's winner, Art Grossman, spoke of their many accomplishments.