Shine the light on New Reform Temple
In a Hanukkah story, the Religion News Service highlighted the 9-foot tall menorah the New Reform Temple erected on its grounds. The story discussed several efforts around the country to safely celebrate Hanukkah during the pandemic with outside celebrations. “The idea of publicizing the miracle has always been important to us, but we’ve never really done it,” Rabbi Alan David Londy of the New Reform Temple told the news service. Not to be outdone, KCUR also featured the menorah in its own version of how faith organizations were getting creative during the pandemic holiday season.
Shepherd’s Center follow-up
A previous item about the 70 over 70 fundraiser put on by Shepherd’s Center Central spurred Overland Park reader Kathy Berger to share a wonderful recollection about how the nonprofit helped her settle into Kansas City when she and her husband moved to town from the East Coast in 1973.
Along with getting a temp job at the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, Berger started volunteering at Shepherd’s Center.
She recalled that the Shepherd’s Center had the first and only hospice in town, and she figured that would be a good place to be when she started her graduate study at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in counseling.
“There was a wise old fellow there by the name of Kermit Phelps!!,” she wrote. “That I can still recall his name after almost 50 years is a testament to his impact on me … or my good memory. Or both!”
Berger got to know the city quickly while travelling through different neighborhoods as part of the hospice program. She even connected with a woman from New York City, and they happily compared notes between NYC and KC.
Prior to relocating to Kansas City, Berger had seen a New York Times story proclaiming “Kansas City: Cowtown to Boomtown!” Even so, Berger half expected to see tumbleweed blowing in the streets.
That didn’t happen, of course, and Berger recalled The Federation and Shepherd’s Center as two organizations that “provided me with a wonderful, warm introduction” to her new home.
A boastful Texan
Another joke from the Marvin Fremerman collection:
A rich Texan was visiting Israel and met up with a little Israeli farmer. The Texan, in an attempt to impress the little Israeli farmer, said: “Hey, did you know that back in Texas I can get in my truck and drive all day and never reach the end of my property?” To which the little Israeli farmer replied: “You know, I used to have a truck like that.”
