NCJW is giving abused/neglected kids served by CASA, who are aging out of foster care, the goods to help them establish their first home. At the Storage Mart at 91st and Metcalf, which is donating space to house the goods until needed, are NCJW’s Carla Oppenheimer (from left), CASA of Johnson & Wyandotte Counties Executive Director Amy Boydston and Jackson County CASA Executive Director Martha Gershun.

It’s shocking what happens to youths who age out of the foster care system without finding a permanent home. Helping change the course of these abused/neglected youths’ lives is the goal of a new program in which the National Council of Jewish Women, Greater Kansas City Section (NCJW) is joining with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) to provide a helping hand to get these young adults started on the road to a successful life.

Joy Koesten

PRIMARY WINNERS — In case you somehow missed the news last week, Joy Koesten, a member of Kehilath Israel Synagogue, defeated incumbent 28th District Rep. Jerry Lunn in the Republican primary for the Kansas House of Representatives on Aug. 2. She does not have a Democratic challenger in the Nov. 8 general election, so she will be off to Topeka in January.

On Monday as workers busily prepared for the re-opening of the Leawood Hen House, those working in the kosher section took time out for a quick photo marking the occasion. Shown are delicatessen service manager Ashley Salazar (from left), chef Peter Castillo, Balls Food Stores President David Ball, and mashgiachs Ben Kopelman and Max Johnston. Photo by Scott Fishman

Keeping kosher in Kansas City can be quite a challenge.

Michal Carmon Weinshtein (left) and Hila Harony have served as the Israeli emissaries for this summer’s Jewish Community Center camps.

Israel is about 6,600 miles from Overland Park, but it has come a bit closer for campers at The Jewish Community Center’s (The J) summer camps through the efforts of two young women.

Dorothy Kaufman, 89, artist, presents her first art show and sale this month to be held in Overland Park. Kaufman has demonstrated artistic talent throughout her life, but has been committed to producing artworks for the past six years.

Some seniors perfect their golf swing while others take up bridge during their golden years. Dorothy Kaufman has found her niche in art.

Miriam Swartz (center) was recently awarded the Levy Hillel Leadership Award by the Lehigh Valley Jewish Federation. She is shown here with Judith Cohen-Roberts, the Levys’ daughter, and Professor Ethan Berkove, professor of mathematics at Lafayette College and adviser to Lafayette Hillel.

Miriam Swartz of Mission Hills, a student at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, earned two honors during the spring 2016 semester.