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Jewish philanthropist Michael Staenberg is a strong supporter of Jewish Community Centers across the country, including The J in Overland Park.

 

There’s no doubt about it. Former Kansas Citian Michael Staenberg is a premier philanthropist. For more than a decade, Staenberg and the Staenberg Family Foundation have contributed over $100 million to nonprofit organizations, as well as in-kind resources that are also valued at more than $100 million. The Jewish Community of Greater Kansas City — The J — is now one of the organizations benefitting from Staenberg’s financial support and expertise.

 

Carrie Fry Robinson, left, was presented with the Kissick Construction Game Changer Award during the 25th annual WIN for KC Women’s Sports Awards Celebration earlier this month by Pete Browne, vice president of Kissick Construction Company.

Carrie Fry Robinson considers herself lucky that she’s been able to build a business around her passion for soccer. As the founder of Finesse Soccer, her efforts have paid off.

She just won the Kissick Construction Game Changer Award during the 25th annual WIN for KC Women’s Sports Awards Celebration presented by Burns & McDonnell. WIN for KC was established in 1994 to empower the lives of girls and women through advocating and promoting the lifetime value of sports and fitness, while providing opportunities for participation and leadership development. The Game Changer Award is presented to a local individual or group that personifies the true spirit of sport not as a participant, but as a supporter, promoter or champion of girls’ and women’s sports and fitness.

 

Rabbi Stephen Karol

Rabbi Stephen Karol will visit the Kansas City area Friday, March 8, through Sunday, March 10, to talk about his book “Finding Hope and Faith in the Face of Death: Insights of a Rabbi and Mourner” (published by Cascade Books, April 2018) and other topics at several locations.

“Usually I share the (book’s) introduction with people because it reflects the whole book,” he said. “Then I read a different chapter at each speaking engagement. Usually when I’m done, (he and his audience) have a discussion. I’ve found that people just want to talk about death — preparations for it, reactions to it.”

Danny Parkins
Danny Parkins loves talking sports.
He did it on the radio in Kansas City for more than five years with an afternoon show about the Chiefs and Royals on 610 AM Sports Radio from 2011 to 2017. He returned to his native Chicago in January 2017 to take a midday sports talk job on WSCR The Score 670 AM, “Spiegel and Parkins,” weekdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

This label appears on all the containers of ‘Jewish penicillin’ delivered by KU Chabad as a get-well gift to students who are under the weather.
CHICKEN SOUP JUST LIKE Bubbe’s — It’s that time of year where it’s hard for any of us to stay well, especially college students. In the past couple of weeks I’ve seen several posts from our Chabads on campus, specifically KU Chabad and Chabad at Mizzou, touting their door-to-door delivery of chicken soup.
“For us, each one of these piping hot chicken soups represents oodles of love for our precious students ..., (and) it’s amazing to see the magic that some Jewish penicillin can do,” said KU Chabad’s Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel.
KU Hillel also has a Chicken Soup Hotline if your son or daughter is not feeling well. Hillel will deliver soup to your KU student and let you know how they are doing. Delivery is available Monday through Friday.
Got students at KU or MU? Remind them they can call on Hillel or their campus Chabads to bring them chicken soup for the soul if they are under the weather! Parents and grandparents, you can pick up the phone and call as well. Call KU Hillel at 785-749-5397. KU Chabad may be found at 785-917-0300 or email . Contact Chabad at Mizzou at 573-442-5755 or email . All of these services are free, but they would love donations to keep this and other programs thriving!
A SONG FOR TODAY — I’ve been thinking a lot about Bar and Bat Mitzvah lately as we are working on our annual Bar and Bat Mitzvah Jewish Life magazine. This past Shabbat I attended a beautiful B’nai Mitzvah at the Jewish Community Campus, The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah’s temporary home for Shabbat services while its own building is under construction. I don’t believe I ever heard the closing song before, “One Day,” so I did a little research.
The song was released by Matisyahu in 2008. According to Wikipedia, the song “expresses a hope for an end to violence and a prayer for a new era of peace and understanding.” Matisyahu has been quoted as saying, “It is an anthem of hope with a big beat, the kind of song that makes you bob your head and open your heart at the same time.” The song was sung at a vigil for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting last October.
Here’s the chorus, a little taste of this wonderful song:
“All my life I’ve been waiting for
I’ve been praying for
For the people to say 
(Ay-yay-yay-yay-yay-oh)
That we don’t wanna fight no 
more (Ay-yay-yay-yay-yay-oh)
They’ll be no more war
And our children will play
(Why-ohhh , why-ohh-ohh-ohh)
One day (One day), one day 
(One day), one day (Oh-oh-ohh)
(Why-ohhh , why-ohh-ohh-ohh)
One day (One day), one day 
(One day), one day (Oh-oh-ohh)”
BBYO GETS LARGE DONATION TO EMPOWER WOMEN — This one is near and dear to my heart. BBG had a huge influence on my life and my commitment to Jewish community.
(JNS) Chicago industrialist Theodore Perlman and his wife, Harriette, pledged $25 million to BBYO, making it the largest single donation to a Jewish youth group in the United States.
The couple announced the $25 million gift on Feb. 14 in Denver at the organization’s international conference, which was attended by more than 5,500 teens and adults. 
The amount will allow BBYO to improve and launch programs empowering teens and women in the group, which is a prominent pluralistic Jewish movement to engage teens in “more meaningful Jewish experiences,” according to its website.
The Anita M. Perlman Women’s Leadership Initiative was named in honor of Perlman’s mother, who founded B’nai B’rith Girls, a division of the organization, which marked its 75th anniversary this year.
“The mindset of youth are set back in their youth, both with the ability to listen, to understand and to develop your innate capabilities to lead or to support the right causes,” said Perlman, the founder of The HAVI Group, a worldwide distribution firm.

 

Pictured, from left, are Annie and Victor Wishna, Josh and Sheryl Stein, and David Sosland at JCF’s Foundation for Our Future event. The event celebrated ‘Create a Jewish Legacy,’ one of the impactful programs for which JCF is being recognized.
The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City (JCF) has been named Nonprofit Connect’s 2019 Philanthropy Award Honoree for Excellence in Impact. The award honors those high-performing nonprofits whose programs and services set a high standard of quality, create meaningful social change, and embody the spirit of giving in Kansas City. JCF will be honored at the 2019 Philanthropy Awards Luncheon, Kansas City’s oldest and largest celebration of giving, on May 1. More than 1,000 members of the nonprofit and for-profit communities attend the luncheon each year.

 

Alexa Summers

 

Everyone knows about how accumulating credit card points can reap significant awards.

Now select young Jews returning home from Birthright trips to Israel can accumulate a different kind of points toward a unique kind of reward.

Sam Diament, 28, a New Jersey technology consultant, earned points for taking on Jewish ritual observances, like putting on tefillin every day and making Havdalah at the end of the Sabbath.

Correction -- The people in this photo were misidentified in the Feb. 7 issue. These proud CDC grandparents Jeff and Cathy Alpert (far right) and Steve and Nanci Hirschorn (far left) pose for a photo at the preschool’s Grandparents Day with grandsons Jonah (third from left) — a CDC grad — and Levi (third from right), a current CDC student.
A NOTE ABOUT CHRONICLE DEADLINES — I’m often asked … “When is The Chronicle’s deadline?” Here’s the answer:
The Chronicle has different deadlines for different things. For example, we try to be as accommodating as possible when it comes to obituaries. We like to have all obituaries to be published in that week’s edition no later than 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, but we know sometimes that is not possible. We do have a final deadline for obituaries each week and that’s 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Fortunately, our local Jewish funeral home — Louis Memorial Chapel — is very helpful assisting families with these deadlines.

Drs. Alison and Adam Kaye with their children (from left) Abigail, Avery, Amelia, Asa, Ava and Asher.
Congregation Beth Israel Abraham & Voliner (BIAV) is gearing up for its annual gala, scheduled this year to take place Sunday, March 3, at The Gallery Event Space in the Power & Light District. The Orthodox congregation’s annual fundraiser will honor Elizabeth and Sam (z”l) Nussbaum and Drs. Alison and Adam Kaye. For tickets or sponsorships information, call the BIAV office at 913-341-2444 or email . The community is invited to celebrate with BIAV as it honors these two couples.

Tens of thousands of Jews around the world celebrated the mitzvah of tefillin on Super Bowl Sunday, designated as the World Wide Wrap by the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs. The initiative encourages everyone to put on tefillin for at least one day. Members of the Men’s Club of Congregation Beth Shalom participating in the World Wide Wrap this year included (from left) David Kallmeyer, Billy Silverman, Richard Simon, Dan Osman, Lee Albee and Chuck Gasser.
SPEAK UP BREAK THE SILENCE — Drs. Steve and Karen Arkin, co-founders of Speak Up Break the Silence along with Allison Doss, announced on Facebook recently that they will be moving to Ohio. While I was out and about, a loyal Chronicle reader stopped me and asked what was going to happen to Speak Up, so I went directly to the source. Steve Arkin said that while he and Karen are leaving town, they will be staying on the Speak Up board of directors, adding “we have a plan to maintain the current agenda.” 
The Speak Up Foundation was inspired, created and formed by the Arkin and Doss families who both suffered devastating personal losses due to mental illness resulting in suicide. “It is from these tragic life events that we decided to rise from the fiery ashes of emotional pain and despair and create this foundation dedicated to change. We are two families who have walked different paths in life now joined in one united fight. We stand together to break the silence and reduce the stigma surrounding all mental illness and suicide,” according to the organization’s mission statement, which can be found at speakup.us. 
For the past three years the organization has sponsored a walk to help pay for its educational activities. No date for the 2019 walk has been posted yet.
JULIAN EDELMAN IS THE FIRST JEWISH SUPER BOWL MVP (JTA) — I was one of those people who was unsure whether Julian Edelman, a wide receiver with the New England Patriots, was Jewish, as I had conflicting reports. Now I’m convinced and on Sunday Edelman was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.
As JTA reports, and television viewers who continued watching that late witnessed, the Patriots’ Jewish owner, Robert Kraft, also earned a kiss on the lips from quarterback Tom Brady as their team celebrated its 13-3 victory — New England’s sixth Super Bowl triumph.
After the game, an interviewer asked Edelman how he felt about earning the MVP award.
“It sounds crazy, it sounds crazy. 2018. L’Chaim!” he said.
Edelman provided some of the rare offensive highlights in a sluggish, defensive game with a game-high 10 catches for 141 yards. Eight of those receptions led to first downs, keeping the ball out of the hands of the Rams’ potent young quarterback, Jared Goff.
Edelman, 32, is one of only a few Jewish players in the league (don’t forget our Chiefs’ Mitchell Schwartz had a stellar year!), embracing that side of his identity over time. He has a Jewish father but was not raised in the religion, and through the Patriots front office often would defer on questions about his religion.
Since 2013, he has shown his Jewish pride on a number of occasions. In a 2014 game, for instance, he wore a pin featuring the Israeli flag. He has tweeted about Jewish holidays. He even went on a Birthright-style trip to Israel, and has written a children’s book that references modern-day Zionism founder Theodor Herzl. After the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in the fall, which killed 11, he wore special cleats with Hebrew on them to honor the victims.
Patriots owner Kraft is the latest recipient of the Genesis Prize, given to a Jewish leader or celebrity who serve “as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through their outstanding professional achievement along with their commitment to Jewish values and the Jewish people.”

 

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