Readers of the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, who present the ad on Page 6 of this week’s edition, will be able to view the “Diana, A Celebration” exhibit at Union Station for just $15 on Tuesdays, May 10 and May 17. Regular admission for the exhibit is $18-$23.50. The exhibit will be on display through June 12.

The discounted price is good all day both days. The exhibit opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m.

On these days only, and with the ad, Chronicle readers will receive a complimentary audio wand tour.

In addition Chronicle readers are invited to attend an English tea, served at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. A full menu, for $17.50 per person plus service fee and sales tax, is served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The menu includes full teas and coffee as well as salads, petite sandwiches, English cheeses, grapes, berries and assorted British biscuits.

A light tea is served from 2 to 4 p.m. Besides tea and coffee, the menu includes an assortment of scones served with sweet butter, clotted cream, marmalade and preserves. The light tea sells for $10 per person plus service fee and sales tax. A 48-hour advance reservation, including payment, is required for the teas. For reservations, call (816) 765-4707.

The award-winning exhibition Diana, A Celebration, chronicles the life and work of Diana, Princess of Wales. This is a rare and final opportunity to see this exhibition before it leaves North America to return to the Althorp Estate. The exhibition presents the life and humanitarian work of one of the 20th century’s most remarkable women through nine galleries containing 150 objects — ranging from her royal wedding gown and 28 of her designer dresses to family heirlooms, personal mementos, paintings and rare home movies and photos. The exhibition is on loan from the Althorp Estate, the Spencer family’s 500-year-old ancestral home.

Tony Cook, marketing and public relations manager for Union Station, said the visitors should reserve about an hour for the tour.

“Enjoying tea along with the exhibit should be a very enjoyable experience,” Cook said.

For more information about the exhibit, visit www. unionstation.org/diana.

QUEEN OF GIVING — Nordaunian AZA held its annual Matzo Ball Saturday night. After being crowned queen in 2010, Meryl Engle dedicated her philanthropic efforts to Head for the Cure. She chose the charity because brain cancer was all too familiar to her and many of her friends. She worked with her uncle, Jim Engle, owner of James Engle Custom Homes, to build a house and donate the profits to HFTC. Meryl personally worked to engage a plethora of subcontractors to provide their services and supplies at no cost or at a reduced cost. In some cases, subcontractors even contributed a donation. During Saturday night’s festivities, she presented a check for $57,365 to HFTC. Meryl is the daughter of Teala and John Engle.

Kara Kahn, a freshman at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and the daughter of Fred and Sherri Kahn, was presented the 2011 crown.

CHAI CELEBRATION — The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education will honor the Jewish community’s Holocaust survivors in celebration of its 18th anniversary on Thursday, Nov. 3, at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The evening will feature a performance by musical legend Marvin Hamlisch. More information regarding this grand night of entertainment and celebration will be available soon!

SAVE THE DATE — Matisyahu, known as an American Chasidic Jewish Reggae musician, is coming to Crossroads KC at Grinders on Thursday, July 7. Stay tuned for more information.

MOTHER’S DAY RADIO — Ron Zoglin and Deborah Shouse recorded two Mother’s Day stories that were aired on Jabulani Leffall’s Central Standard yesterday (Thursday, May 5) on KCUR-FM, 89.3. We’re told the recordings can also be accessed on the station’s website, www.kcur.org.

AEPi ROCK-A-THON — The Alpha Epsilon Pi Jewish fraternity at the University of Missouri-Columbia recently held its annual Rock-A-Thon raising more than $80,000 for The American Cancer Society. That’s the the largest amount raised by this bi-annual fundraiser to date. This year’s rocker, Lenny Goldman of Buffalo Grove, Ill., rocked for 63 consecutive hours. Kansas Citian Jeff Mallin was the fraternity’s rocker 30 years ago. In support of the event his mother, Beverly Mallin, quit smoking when her then college-age son stood up after completing the 63-hour-rocking-marathon. Jeff Mallin stopped by to support the event again this year and to visit his son and Beverly’s grandson, Zach, a freshman member of AEPi.

FEDERATION TO HELP
SOUTHERN U.S. — The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City has opened an emergency relief fund to provide aid and support to the victims of the more than 100 tornadoes that ripped through the Southern U.S. earlier this week. In conjunction with the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), and the Birmingham Jewish Federation, we are working to support relief efforts.

Credit card donations may also be made over the phone by contacting Gail Weinberg at (913) 327-8123. Donations may be mailed to: The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, Att: Tornado Recovery Fund, 5801 W. 115 St., Suite 201, Overland Park, KS 66211.

Jerusalem native Lilach Nissim arrived in Kansas City in early November as the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s fourth Israeli shlicha (Hebrew for female emissary). Her main job here is to educate Kansas Citians about Israel. Twice in the course of the next two weeks she’ll have a chance to give people a taste of Israel at citywide events — Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) and Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day).

Many Kansas Citians know all about Yom HaAtzmaut, which will be celebrated here on Tuesday, May 10, at Kehilath Israel Synagogue. For years the local Jewish community commemorated Yom HaZikaron, which honors IDF soldiers and civilian victims of terror attacks, at the very beginning of the Israel Independence Day festivities. But a few years ago Kansas City’s Israeli community, which numbers about 20 families, and the Israeli emissary decided the solemn occasion deserved to be marked separately. This year that service takes place Sunday, May 8 (see below).

Nissim said Yom HaZikaron is a very, very important day in Israel. It’s also something that is really hard to explain to Americans because there really isn’t anything like it here. In her opinion, the only thing she can compare it to here are ceremonies that commemorate 9/11.
She believes Yom HaZikaron continues to be important because Jews are not done fighting for a Jewish state.

“This day is something that is not taken lightly even today, 63 years after the establishment of the state. It is something that we are still fighting about.And people are still giving their lives so that we can have a Jewish state of Israel,” she said.

Nissim said everyone in Israel understands the importance of the day.

“Everybody knows people that gave their lives for the country. Everybody’s brothers and fathers and friends and neighbors (were in the army). My brother nearly died in the army several times,” she said.

“For us the day is something very, very personal and it makes us appreciate freedom and what we have,” she said. “We understand people are giving their lives for a cause, and that cause is not only military. It is for us to be better people, for the country to be more successful and more moral. We don’t want them to die in vain, so this is a very big issue in Israel.”

The most important message Nissim hopes to convey to people when she talks about Yom HaZikaron is that the day should not be important just in Israel.

“Soldiers are fighting for the Jewish state. And the Jewish state is something that belongs to the entire Jewish people, whether they live in Israel or not. I really want people to understand this is a significant day for all Jews.”

The commemoration

Nissim explained that Yom HaZikaron is “our annual reminder of the price we have to pay to live in Israel, to have a Jewish state.”

That is why Yom Hazikaron is always scheduled a day before Yom HaAtzmaut.

“It combines the sorrow and happiness of living freely in a Jewish state,” she said.

In Israel Yom HaZikaron begins at 8 p.m. with the blare of a siren.

“Everybody stops what they are doing and stands in silence for 1 minute. The next morning, at 10 a.m. another siren blasts for 2 minutes. Again, everyone stands together to remember and honor the soldiers and civilians. I cannot explain it in words … it is a kind of solidarity that I haven’t experienced anywhere else.”

Nissim said people in Israel stop what they are doing when the sirens blow no matter where they are.

“On this day in Israel, people stop their cars in the middle of the highway, to get out and stand in the middle of the road in silence. There are no television commercials that day, no funny things on the radio. The only things you hear are stories about the soldiers and civilians who died, and songs written about them.”

Nissim said she is from a strong Zionist family. Her father served in the army for 28 years. She and her siblings also served. Before she came to Kansas City, she worked as a youth coordinator and manager of a youth center for children at risk in missile-torn Sderot.

“Daily, I saw children and adults missing limbs from rocket attacks when I lived in Sderot. It made it easy to understand the truth about life … how fragile it is.”

Nissim encourages all members of the community, whether or not they have attended a Yom HaZikaron service before, to experience this year’s memorial service.

Yom HaZikaron

Organizers hope about 300 people will attend the memorial service, which takes place at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 8, in the Jewish Community Campus Social Hall. In addition to the service, which will include songs, stories and Officer Amit Fisher, an IDF soldier currently based in Leavenworth, Kan., attendees will have a chance to view photos, stories and letters from fallen soldiers, and light a remembrance candle in honor of the many who have died.

For more information about the Yom HaZikaron service, go to www.jewishkansascity.org or call Lilach Nissim at (913) 327-8124. It is sponsored by the Israeli Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City and the Israel emissary.

“It is an honor to remember the many Israelis who have given their lives to protect their country.”

As the specialist and congregation consultant for the North American Reform movement in the program areas of caring community and family concerns, a major part of Rabbi Richard Address’s work has been in the development and implementation of the project on sacred aging. This project has been responsible for creating awareness and resources for congregations on the implication of the emerging longevity revolution with growing emphasis on the aging of the baby boom generation. This aging revolution has begun to impact all aspects of Jewish communal and congregational life.

Rabbi Address will be in Kansas City on Thursday, May 5, to give a presentation titled, “To Honor and Respect.” It is one of three seminars being held in conjunction with Older Americans Month, co-sponsored by Jewish Family Services. (See below)

He said programs regarding sacred aging are necessary these days, pointing to the growing numbers of older adults. According to the Administration on Aging of the Department of Health and Human Services, 39.6 million people were 65 years or older in 2009. That represented 12.9 percent of the U.S. population. By 2030, the number of older Americans will grow to about 72.1 million older persons, which will make up about 19 percent of the population.

Rabbi Address said one of the most popular aspects of the sacred aging program the Reform movement has designed is caregiving and the impact it is having on the baby boomers. For that age group he has found, “if you aren’t doing this now, you have done it or you will do it. Everybody is going to get a turn at caregiving.”

He said the workshop, which is free and open to the Jewish and general communities, will focus on how classic Jewish texts guide and inform people on “the art of caregiving.”

“We’re really going to look at how we can approach, using the classic texts from the Bible, this whole phenomenon of caregiving. The title is based upon the quotation from the Torah, ‘to honor and respect,’” Rabbi Address said.

The greatest challenge to his work, he said, is getting out the information about how powerful the Jewish tradition is when it comes to sacred aging.

“Really in its ancientness it anticipates everything that people are going through,” said the Reform rabbi, who was here in November as a scholar in residence at Congregation Beth Torah.

One of the things Rabbi Address said he enjoys while he’s teaching about Jewish tradition and its approaches to caregiving is the opportunity to learn people’s stories.

Rabbi Address has some personal knowledge in the area of caregiving, as he has taken care of his mother, who now lives in a nursing home, for about 20 years. He’s learning that caregivers are tired, frustrated and stressed. As an example he explains a conversation he recently had with a man in his early 60s.

“He said, ‘This was supposed to be the time that I was supposed to have everything and now I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked before. I’m taking care of my 88-year-old parent. I’m heavily involved with my kids. I’m driving carpool for my grandchildren. This was supposed to be my time.’ ”

He said the seminar is geared toward people who are looking to find ways to “carve time out for me.” Many caregivers today, he said, are saying, “I’m losing part of myself in this.”

Along those same lines, Rabbi Address said caregivers are often faced with conflicts between caring for a loved one and caring for his or her own family.

“Who takes precedence between the person needing care and the demands of my husband, or my wife, or my children? A lot of times people feel they are being pulled in so many different directions and then they wonder, what about me? Who is taking care of me?”

The rabbi hopes this seminar will help people in these situations learn how they can take care of themselves spiritually.

Another point of discussion will be how roles can change once a caregiving situation arises.

“Sometimes you’re the daughter and sometimes you will be the parent. It’s an interesting dance,” he said. “There’s a real fine line of when you don’t take away someone’s dignity. There will be times that you may be put in the position that you may have to negotiate that dignity, which I am doing now with my mom in the nursing home, which is undignified. So many people are living it. And there is no right or wrong.”

He pointed out that there is no text book for people to follow, and the paths caregivers take are often very different. He gives the example of two friends.

“As they sit and discuss things over coffee, they will find that while their situations are similar they are radically different because there are different people involved, who bring to the table different universes and different experiences.”

May 2011 Older Americans Month

In honor of Older Americans Month KC4 Aging in Community, and its partner organizations, is sponsoring three events which are free and open to the community.

Caring for Your Family and Friends, featuring Rabbi Richard Address, will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday, May 5, at the Social Hall of the Jewish Community Campus.

A late afternoon seminar will also take place from 4 to 6 p.m. on May 5. The topic is Universal Design and it will be held in the LiveWise Renovations Showroom at 3500 W. 75th St., Suite 100, Prairie Village, Kan. 66211.

The topic is Mobility and Transportation from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 7. The seminar will be held at the Landon Center on Aging at KU Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Dr., Kansas City, Kan. 66160.

The seminars are sponsored by KC4 Aging in Community, Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City, Theo and Alfred M. Landon Center on Aging, Mid-America Regional Council, Shepherd’s Center of KC Central, LifeWise Renovations and the American Red Cross. Reservations are requested but not required; e-mail or call (816) 979-1366.

Alana Gaffen and Hannah Gortenburg met in kindergarten at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. In third grade, they became friends and have been friends ever since. Now 19, they are both in Israel taking part in the The Young Judaea Year Course.

Gaffen is the daughter of Congregation Beth Shalom members Steve and Eileen Gaffen. She left HBHA after eighth grade and graduated in 2010 from Blue Valley North High School.

Gortenburg stayed at HBHA and graduated last May. She is the daughter of Michael and Karen Gortenburg, who are members of Kehilath Israel Synagogue.

Gaffen first visited Israel in the summer of 2008 while participating in an Eastern Europe-Israel program. Gortenberg had been to Israel three times — first on a private trip, then with her HBHA class and again as part of the 2010 March of the Living.

Before the two teens graduated last year, they thought they might want to spend a year in Israel, so, Gaffen said, they attended a fair at the Jewish Community Center.

“Hannah and I looked at all the different programs and Young Judaea stood out because it had a lot of options. It looked like the best fit for me and I hadn’t heard any bad things about it,” Gaffen said.

Gortenburg agreed. “My brother came to Israel for two years and he told me the Young Judaea course was the best option for me because there was a lot of free time so I could explore Israel on my own. When I compared other year course, they seemed too structured with not enough time to learn for me to learn about myself.”

Gaffen chose the Classic Track and spent three months in Bat Yam where she volunteered in a kindergarten, took ulpan (Hebrew language class) twice a week and had a scout living in her apartment. She then spent three months in Arad where she worked in an artists’ colony and a day- care facility for Sudanese while going to ulpan.

“On weekends, I would go camping or hiking,” said Gaffen. “I did an all-day hike to the Dead Sea and camped out on the beach and I went to Eilat for winter break.I also went to Beersheva.”

In March Gaffen moved to Jerusalem where she has a very tight schedule — taking mandatory and optional college-credit classes (she can earn a maximum of 27 credits) and volunteering in a soup kitchen.

Gortenburg also spent three months in Bat Yam where she worked in a kindergarten; then moved to Arad for two months where she helped teach English in a Bedouin school and worked on a dig at Ein Gedi. She was on the Social Action Track so she left Arad for one month and went to Rwanda to live in a village and work with high school orphans from the genocide.

“We went to help them learn English and we built a house that they use to store clothing that is donated to them,” Gortenburg said.

Now in Jerusalem as well, Gortenburg works in the soup kitchen and takes classes for credit.

Gaffen believes the course has taught her the ability to live on her own.

“I grew up a lot here,” she said.

Gortenburg said she has also grown emotionally while in Israel.

“I was forced to challenge myself to new and very different opportunities. I matured a lot, having to find everything on my own and do everything by myself,” Gortenburg said.

Gaffen has enjoyed all the hiking and camping trips she’s been able to take.

“They bring you closer to the people you go with and give you the chance to explore the city you’re in and the cities around you. In Arad we were surrounded by mountains and the desert so there was reflection time for me to write in my journal or draw.”

Gortenburg enjoyed exploring by herself.

“My favorite place to explore is Tel Aviv. I sit down, get a cup of coffee and people watch, then I also walk around,” Gortenburg said.

Both teens would recommend the Young Judaea course to others.

“I wouldn’t have gotten these experiences if I’d gone to college,” Gaffen said.

Gortenburg said teens who choose the program have to be willing to indulge themselves.

“You need to realize you are on your own. You can’t rely on your parents to guide you. In college, you don’t need to do everything by yourself and living in America is easier,” Gortenburg said.

Next year their friendship will be put to a new test. Gaffen will attend Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and Gortenburg will attend the Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts located in New York City.

Young Judaea Year Course in Israel

The Young Judaea Year Course in Israel has been in existence since 1956. This year the program has approximately 300 participants, 60 percent women and 40 percent men. They include two young women from Holland, one woman from Belgium; a group affiliated with Great Britain’s Federation of Zionist Youth; and 13 Scouts (the brother/sister movement of Young Judaea) who participate in the program during their gap year after high school and before the army.

The “classic” program is divided into three three-month periods where participants live in three-bedroom apartments, two or three to a room, are provided with a budget to do their own shopping, cook for themselves and “live” in Israel. For the first three months, the roommates are chosen randomly by the staff; for the next two periods, participants can choose their roommates.

Young Judaea is the youth movement sponsored by Hadassah.

DESCENDANTS OF WWII JEWISH VETERANS SOUGHT —The National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Mo., is undertaking a search for family descendants to properly honor the 82 Kansas City-area World War II service members who gave their lives (this is separate from the Walk of Honor bricks for World War I vets). These servicemen were honored through dedication ceremonies from 1942 through 1949. New plaques are being issued to replace aging plaques. Five of the 83 servicemen honored are Jewish and museum officials are seeking their descendants so they can be invited to attend the dedication ceremony of the replacement plaques on Veterans Day 2011. They will also be able to keep their loved one’s original plaque if they wish. If any of our readers are descendants or know of descendants of these five men, which includes children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc., please call Patrick Raymond at (816) 784-1913:

• Alvin G. Jackson, corporal in the Army, died April 1, 1942
Mother, Mrs. Frieda Jackson, KCMO

• Donald N. Blum, Army, died Jan. 4, 1945
Mother, Mrs. Lillian McGain, KCMO

• Granum Chernoff, private in the Army, died Jan. 30, 1944
Father, Morris Chernoff, KCMO

• Robert J. Rubin, Army, died June 20, 1944
Wife, Betty Rubin, and son, Milton, KCMO
Graduated from Westport High in 1935

• Harry Schultz, Army, died May 4, 1944
Mother, Bessie Schultz, KCMO

FUR BALL FUNDRAISERS — Several members of the Jewish community are on the board of directors of Wayside Waifs, Kansas City’s largest no-kill animal shelter — including Chair Pati Chasnoff and Harold Melcher, chair emeritus. They are preparing for Wayside Waifs’ Fur Ball Gala, its largest annual fundraiser scheduled to take place Saturday, May 7, at the Overland Park Convention Center. Gary Lezak is the event emcee. The event features both live and silent auctions along with a gourmet dinner. For more information, call (816) 986-4401.

SAVE THE FESTIVAL — The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival is in trouble. If it doesn’t raise $100,000 by Wednesday, May 4, this year’s production of “Macbeth,” scheduled to run from June 14 to July 3 in Southmoreland Park, will be cancelled. The festival was founded 18 years ago by Marilyn Strauss, who still serves as the board’s vice chairman. Shirley Bush Helzberg is the board chairman and Steve Chick is the president. Call (816) 531-7728 to donate over the phone.

STUDENTS ASSIST AUDIO READER — Jewish students at the University of Kansas, including many who are in the Jewish American Literature and Culture: A Service Learning Course, are volunteering for KU Audio-reader. KU Audio-Reader is a closed circuit radio station that has been serving the blind and print-disabled of Kansas and western Missouri since 1971. This includes people not only with visual disabilities, but other conditions that prevent them from reading normal printed materials. In addition to the radio, Audio-Reader has a dial-in newspaper service called Lions Telephone Reader, which has recently expanded its offerings to include The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle and The Forward. To listen to the Jewish publications on Telephone Reader, call (785) 864-7474 or (800) 335-1221, enter the demo code 5887, press 1 for newspapers, and then go to publication 5, where listeners can select 11 for The Forward and 14 for The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. The Jewish American Literature and Culture class is taught by Cheryl Lester.

KEEPING HEALTHCARE ABOVE PAR — KU sophomore Micah Levine is the membership chairman for Phi Delta Epsilon, a pre-med fraternity that was founded at a time when there was a quota regarding how many Jews could be accepted into medical school. Today membership is open to all religions and both men and women, but Jews are still heavily involved. The son of Toby and David Levine and a graduate of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, he informed us the fraternity is planning its first golf tournament for this summer on June 4 at the Lake Perry Country Club in Ozawkie, Kan. All proceeds will benefit the University of Kansas Hospital Nurse Academy. The entry fee is $100 and the tournament is open to all. For more information, contact Ross Miller at (913) 424-5986 or e-mail .

The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City is one of the nation’s leaders when it comes to working with community organizations to give them the tools for creating endowments through planned giving. As such, it will be hosting the Jewish Legacy Forum May 3, 4 and 5. Approximately 30 Jewish communities will be represented, bringing to Kansas City more than 80 people — both professionals and lay leaders — who work with Jewish federations or Jewish community foundations in North America.

Participants will learn from one another about designing and implementing Create a Jewish Legacy programs. The forum is a collaborative effort between the Jewish Community Foundations of Kansas City, Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., as well as the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and Jewish Federations of North America.

Sessions and keynote speakers will focus on the best and most successful practices and models from the field. Much of the forum will be held at the Jewish Community Campus.

“Everybody has their own twist, but there are some who are contemplating putting together an initiative and they are coming here to learn first-hand how these programs are organized and what needs to be in place in order for it to be successful,” explained Diane Azorsky, JCF’s assistant executive director and director of community endowments.

JCF has been working on this Forum for about 18 months. Merilyn Berenbom, who is chair of the Bushman Community

Endowment and a past president of JCF, said hosting this event is an incredible honor and gives JCF the opportunity to show off Kansas City “can do” spirit.

“Our Jewish Community Foundation reflects the dreams of its founders with the reality of an outstanding institution that everyday reflects the permanence of our values and the power of investing not just for today but for generations to come,” Berenbom said.

Lauren Hoopes, JCF’s executive director, said JCF’s staff and volunteers are proud to be able to share its expertise with others at the forum because it’s so important for the Jewish community to learn how to develop its financial resources in other ways besides annual fundraising campaigns.

“This is a national movement and we are considered leaders and a true role model in that movement. That’s really what’s so exciting about being asked to host this forum,” Azorsky said.

“Frequently I get calls about our Bushman Community Endowment program. (Learn more about BCE below) But this forum is an organized way for everyone to come together and learn from one another. Everybody’s program is unique and tailored to their own community but we can definitely all learn from each other,” she continued.

Joslin LeBauer, director of JFNA’s planned giving and endowments, indeed noted that The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City is considered an important example to other foundations and federations in the national system, especially when it comes to its communitywide Create a Jewish Legacy program.

“The Foundation has set a very high standard for donor support through a very generous gift from Stanley Bushman, so that they can offer incentive grants and hire dedicated staff. Their attention to detail in formatted documents and their array of professional training sessions has inspired their agency teams to walk the walk in addition to talking the talk,” LeBauer said.

Hoopes said one of the reasons Kansas City is looked up to is because it is “a model community of cooperation.” In many communities the federations, foundations, synagogues and agencies don’t work well together.

“Whether it’s because of our history or the particular people that we have as leaders in our community, we’ve been able to navigate those potential mine fields much more effectively than most communities,” Hoopes said. “Other communities see that as something that is awesome and worth emulating.”

The importance of endowments

Endowments are funds that are invested for the long-term growth and financial stability of a charitable organization. Every year income is distributed to the charity based upon an established spending policy to support a specific program, to provide scholarships, to underwrite annual operations or to be used at the discretion of the organization’s board of directors.

Endowments have always been important to JCF, but Hoopes said not long after she joined JCF in 2003, the Foundation began looking into ways to help local agencies and synagogues learn to cultivate planned gifts as a way to ensure their future.

“One by one community agencies were coming to talk to me about how to do more of this and they were really at a loss because they were starting from square one. Then I thought since I was having all these independent conversations maybe we need to do something that is more organized to present to all of these people,” Hoopes said.

Plans for the program, known as the Bushman Community Endowment, were announced in late 2006 and got off the ground in April 2007. Much of it is based on a model created in San Diego.

Since the launch of BCE, JCF has helped raise an estimated $24 million in future endowment gifts. Across North America, initiatives like BCE report that an estimated $400 million has been committed in legacy gifts by individuals and families of all means and diverse Jewish backgrounds since 2004. This estimate is conservative since many endowment donors have chosen to keep the size of their gifts confidential.

Endowments such as these are important, Azorsky said, because they are like each organization’s nest egg.

“The same way we all save for the future, organizations need to save for their futures,” Azorsky said.
Hoopes adds that organizations with endowments are simply more financially sound than those that don’t.

“If you used the analogy of the life of a family, it would be like living paycheck to paycheck versus having built up assets that you could draw on in an emergency or for special projects or in circumstances when that monthly paycheck was no longer coming in,” Hoopes said.

In the last couple of years Hoopes said that some organizations really learned the importance of endowments.

“Charities that had strong endowments were able to maintain their core services and were able to stay on track with their missions and those that didn’t struggled,” she said.

Hoopes and Azorsky said they are proud that JCF has been asked to share its expertise with others because it’s so important for the Jewish community to learn how to develop its financial resources in other ways that supplement and enhance annual fundraising campaigns.

Grace Day has been a pioneer for women lawyers. She was the only woman in her class when she earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Dakota in 1949. In 1972 she was the first woman president of the St. Joseph, Mo., Bar Association. Next week she will be presented with the Woman of the Year award by Missouri Lawyers Weeky. The 13th Annual Women’s Justice Awards, which honors 35 female attorneys in Missouri, will be held in St. Louis on Wednesday, April 27.

“I feel very honored,” said Day from her office Polsinelli Shughart office in St. Joseph. “I feel like it’s an award for years of my interest in the law.

“Some of it has been difficult, some very exciting and some very interesting and it’s a culmination of all the years I’ve had in the practice,” continued Day, who has volunteered as St. Joseph’s Temple B’nai Sholem’s executive secretary for 61 years, the entire time she has lived in the Missouri town. She also serves on the small congregation’s cemetery committee.

She’s been practicing law since 1949, moving to Missouri in 1950. She said her studies and her career have been a long journey. While she was in law school, she said the other students and faculty “made it made it well known I wasn’t an acceptable party because I was a woman.”

Because of her gender, she said it was very hard for her to find a job. The one she finally found paid $50 per month, but it turns out she wasn’t more than what she called “a glorified secretary.”

Soon after, she opened her own private practice.

“Little by little I grew my practice. It wasn’t easy,” she said. “I wasn’t from the St. Joseph area so I did a lot of free criminal work to get my name known.”

Eventually Day began practicing family law and she stuck with that. She was in solo practice for 46 years before joining Polsinelli Shughart at the age of 69.

“I was very worried what would happen with my practice if I died,” she said. I thought I would be here a year or two. Now I’ve been here 15 years.”

Over the years she has spent a lot of time volunteering. Most notably she served as international president of B’nai B’rith Women (now known as Jewish Women International), serving a two-year term immediately following that of the late Evelyn Wasserstrom from Kansas City. She has also served as president of St. Joseph United Jewish Fund and was the first woman elected to serve on the board of the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce.

Magazine honors Levit, too

Nancy Levit, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, is one of four women who will be recognized as Legal Scholars at the Missouri Lawyers Weekly 13th Annual Women’s Justice Awards next week in St. Louis.

Levit holds both a Curator’s Professorship and the Edward D. Ellison Professorship UMKC. She teaches Defamation & Privacy, Employment Discrimination, Gender & Justice, Jurisprudence, and Torts, and is the co-advisor to the UMKC Law Review.

Professor Levit has been voted by the students as the Law School’s Outstanding Professor of the Year three times and she has received the Elmer Pierson Faculty Teaching Award three times as well, the N.T. Veatch Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity, the UMKC Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2011 and the Missouri Governor’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

She will be profiled in Professor Michael Schwartz’s book, “What the Best Law Teachers Do,” forthcoming from Harvard University Press in 2012. She is the author of “The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law,” and the co-author (with Richard Delgado and Robert L. Hayman, Jr.) of “Jurisprudence — Classical and Contemporary,” the co-author (with Robert R.M. Verchick) of “Feminist Legal Theory: A Primer,” and the co-author (with Douglas Linder) of the recently released “The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law.”

Eileen Garry, executive director of The Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art (KCJMCA) since 2000, has announced plans to retire at the start of 2012. This year KCJMCA has been celebrating its 20th anniversary, and Garry has been involved since its inception in 1992. She began her association with KCJMCA as a Kansas City Jewish Museum Foundation founding member, then served as a volunteer assistant director before becoming its executive director.

“It all started when (KCJMCA founders) Sybil and Norman Kahn asked me to get involved to help run Museum Without Walls,” said Garry, who will become executive director emeritus when she retires.

“For a number of years, we met in offices around town before Michael Klein suggested that we get involved with Village Shalom, which allowed us to move so close to the Epsten Gallery.”

Garry said she is choosing to retire because she believes “very strongly that new blood is always needed in any organization to make progress.”

“This will also give me more time to spend with my family and friends and plan the next chapter in my life,” she said.

Regina Kort, president of the KCJMCA board of directors, praises Garry’s service and dedication to the organization. She said it has prospered and grown in many ways during her tenure as executive director. She credits Garry’s extensive experience as a fundraiser as well as her knowledge of the community for the success of KCJMCA, which managed to reach new fundraising goals in 2010 amidst a challenging economy.

Kort also expressed appreciation for Garry’s announcement more than a half-year in advance, allowing the board time to engage in the process of identifying a successor.

“Eileen has been the heart and soul of KCJMCA from the beginning,” said Kort. “Because of her dedication, enthusiasm and hard work our organization has evolved into one of the premier spaces in the Kansas City area that features up-and-coming regional and national artists. We have been fortunate to have an executive director of Eileen’s caliber.”

KCJMCA Past President Michael Klein agreed.

“Her drive and energy helped build KCJMCA into the major cultural institution it has become,” Klein said. “Cutting-edge exhibits that would scare off more conservative people became one of the museum’s hallmarks. Eileen never stopped learning and expanding her limits. We all owe her a debt for what she has done.”

Klein noted that the board worked closely with Garry over the years to stabilize the organization through the creation of an endowment, two additional staff positions, the successful completion of a five-year strategic plan and a solid foundation of private, individual donor support. He said over the past 20 years Garry has remained a constant presence at KCJMCA, having worked under the founder and former executive director Sybil Kahn, five KCJMCA presidents, three assistant directors, two curators and one administrative assistant.

“Eileen is proof that age is what you make of it. When she took over as director, most of her contemporaries were long retired. She shows the talent and energy that lets one continue leading a productive life well into their ‘senior’ years. She shows that age can often be a mental thing and what a person makes of it. Eileen is youthful in spirit, drive and energy and serves as a role model for the baby boomers coming up that their productive years are just beginning,” Klein said.

Reflecting on her time at KCJMCA Garry said one of her most memorable times was at the very beginning of both Museum Without Walls and Epsten Gallery.

“There was so much excitement and we really had no idea how far each would go,” she said.

One of the highlights, she said, was bringing Toby Kahn to Kansas City for a show at Epsten Gallery.

“But really all the shows have been highlights. How could I pick out just one?

“I want to thank everyone who has made the growth and excitement of building this into a major art center — the Epsten family, Michael Klein, Donna Gould Cohen, the Polskys — all the board members and donors who without their support this would never have happened,” she continued. “I would also like to thank members of the community such as Alice Thorson and Bruce Hartman and so many others who have been incredibly supportive and contributed to the success of the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art.”

The KCJMCA board of directors has appointed a search committee to develop a new job description and interview process to help identify Garry’s replacement.

“This process is already underway with the involvement of Eileen and the rest of the staff,” Kort said. “A big part of the conversation is how best to build upon Eileen’s accomplishments, what we want for the future of the organization, and how to continue moving forward with the great momentum she has helped to create.”

What do you do if Mom, Dad or Aunt Zelda needs an extra hand or a ride and you aren’t able to provide it? You can call Seniors Helping Seniors, a new area business that specializes in providing non-medical services for seniors by seniors.

Celia Richey, a member of Congregation Beth Torah, purchased the franchise, which serves clients in Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, late last year and said since the first of the year it has “gotten really great response.” The organization has franchises throughout the United States.

Richey explained that Seniors Helping Seniors provides in-home, non-medical services for seniors by seniors.

“We provide things like companion care, transportation to doctor’s appointments, shopping, errands, meal preparation and light housekeeping. We also do home maintenance and yard work, which is a little bit different than the other providers in the area.

We do anything that is going to help keep seniors in their homes as long as possible,” she said.

The home, Richey said, can actually be a single-family home, an apartment or even an assisted-living apartment.

“We can help people living in assisted living. The person may need someone to come and take them out to lunch every once in a while or just come to sit with them because the facility’s employees are not companions,” Richey said.

A Kansas City native, Richey said Seniors Helping Seniors’ clients need assistance for various reasons. Their kids may be too busy to help, they may live out of town or they simply might not have a connection with their children or other relatives.

Providers are generally between the ages of 55 and 70. They don’t provide any medical services, so the state of Kansas does not require them to be licensed in any way. But Richey makes sure they attend monthly training session about a variety of topics, including Alzheimer’s disease or nutrition, and the sessions often feature expert guest speakers.

An attorney who for the past 25 years worked in the financial services industry, Richey herself received training at Seniors Helping Seniors corporate headquarters in Reading, Pa. She said the really cool thing about seniors providing these services to other seniors is that they often have a special connection with each other. Richey uses Glenn Miller as an example.

“When a 75-year-old says I really used to love to dance to Glenn Miller, a 25-year-old might ask if Glenn Miller is the new forward on the KU basketball team. Whereas a 60-year-old or a 65-year-old is going to know who Glenn Miller is,” Richey said.

Because of the client-provider connection, Richey said clients often feel they are really getting “more of a friendship rather than just paying for somebody to help them.”

When hiring caregivers, which Richey said has been “surprisingly easy,” she said she looks for people who have the heart of a volunteer who want or need to make a little extra money.

“I’m finding providers who have been edged out of other jobs or need part-time work but they want it to be incredibly flexible,” she said.

“All of our providers go through an extensive background check and are insured, to ensure our clients peace of mind,” she continued.

Providers have the opportunity to turn down assignments if they aren’t available.

“They are able to live their lives and their retirement as they want to, but they can also give back to the community and make a little extra money. I’ve gotten a great response and I have some really great providers,” Richey said.

Seniors Helping Seniors employs both men and women. If the client wants ongoing care of some type, most often he or she will get the same provider on a regular basis.

If a client is to meet a new provider, it’s important to Richey that she personally makes the introductions.

“Any time a new provider goes to a client’s house, I go with them. I don’t want somebody strange just knocking at the door,” Richey said. “I want to make sure that everybody is comfortable and everybody is OK with the situation. I really try very hard to match my clients with the right providers.”

To do that, Richey meets with each client before making the provider assignment.

“I look at the situation and what it is the client wants to have done. Then I make sure that the person that I call is somebody that I think will match up well,” she said.

Richey also prefers that her providers have had previous experience caring for older adults.

“It’s really more like taking care of your mom, which is how I got into it. My mom doesn’t drive anymore, so she needs help getting to doctor’s appointments and things like that,” Richey said.

“My experience made me think about what other people do if they don’t have children in town,” she said.
For more information contact Richey at (913) 232-7532 or .