SevenDays, a locally based nonprofit that aims to overcome hate with kindness and understanding through education and dialogue, has many Jewish members on both its board and its Kindness Youth Leadership Team.
The organization continues the healing journey following the murders that took the lives of Dr. William Corporon, his grandson Reat Underwood, and Teresa LaManno outside of Jewish facilities in April 2014.
Cofounder and SevenDays President Mindy Corporon said, “We are providing them opportunities to not only choose kindness but be kindness influencers.”
The Jewish board members of SevenDays are Alana Muller, Lisa Schifman and Jake Goldman.
“As I stood preparing for my family's Passover Seder [on the day of the murders], not only was I shocked to learn of the heinous crimes that had taken place at institutions that were close to my heart, but I was additionally saddened to learn that my long-time friend, Mindy Corporon, had lost her father and son,” Muller said. “It was deeply crushing and I vowed to get involved in some way to ensure that kindness would overcome hatred. As such, I was honored to support Mindy as she launched SevenDays so that I, too, could make a ripple to change the world.”
Goldman, also moved to act after the murders, has been involved with SevenDays since he was in high school. Having been inspired by SevenDays’ values, efforts and education, he worked and volunteered throughout his years in college for organizations for underprivileged children, democratizing access to food stamps, and helping end the opioid crisis.
“The quality of our future will depend on the quality of our young leaders,” he said. “That’s why I’ve returned to SevenDays’ board: to continue to empower students across the US to drive positive change. The mission is spreading; the organization has grown tremendously in the last few years.”
Both Muller and Goldman said that SevenDays’ values work with the Jewish values of tikkun olam — repairing the world.
Kindness Youth Leadership Team
Six members of SevenDays’ Kindness Youth Leadership Team are Jewish: Lauren Frumkin (junior, Blue Valley West High School), Gabbie Granoff (senior, Shawnee Mission South High School), Eden Iseman (sophomore, Blue Valley North High School), Livia Meytal Noorollah (sophomore, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy), Emma Sandler (senior, Blue Valley High School) and Sami Sandler (freshman, Blue Valley High School).
Granoff was at the Jewish Community Center during the shooting in 2014 and attended the first annual SevenDays walk.
“I remember when I attended the first walk, I was amazed that a day that was so horrible in my memory could bring together so many people in our community for a good cause,” she said. “The first time I went to a SevenDays event really opened my eyes to how a negative event could be used to create positive change… [SevenDays has] given me the opportunity to help encourage others to spread kindness and hopefully prevent such a tragedy from happening again… [The victims’ families] embraced the Jewish community and created a community where everyone is accepted.”
The drive to combat hate and antisemitism also applies to Noorollah and Emma Sandler.
“I happened to not be there [on the day of the murders], but I know that I got lucky, and it is not unrealistic to think that I or someone I know could have been harmed,” Noorollah said. “Antisemitism is a problem all over the world, and I know Jewish teens in the area who deal with it regularly. I've learned about countless Antisemitic massacres, and I know that this is caused by hatred, whether it was from tropes originating a thousand years ago, or the hardly recognizable evolutions of those same fallacies. Hate and oppression is something the Jewish people have always experienced, and that is why I find SevenDays so important, because it indiscriminately advocates for everyone to experience only kindness.”
“I ultimately became involved with [SevenDays] after realizing the negative impact that hate has on our community and seeing that there are not many organizations working to combat that hate,” Emma Sandler said. “When I came across SevenDays, I knew I not only wanted, but needed, to be a part of it… I refuse to sit back and allow the dangers of antisemitism totally over.”
More information about SevenDays is available by visiting sevendays.org or contacting Ruth Baum Bigus, (913) 707-7746, or at .
