Midwest Center for Holocaust Education was honored Oct. 22 by Nonprofit Connect for its book, “Collective Voices.” Nonprofit Connect links the nonprofit community to education, resources and networking so organizations can more effectively achieve their missions.
“Collective Voices,” is MCHE’s writing project for children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. It won top honors in Unique Concept category, an award created just this year, at Nonprofit Connect’s Philly Award breakfast. Nonprofit Connect’s Liz Goyer said the book was honored because it “went above and beyond the mission of the organization,” which is to teach the history of the Holocaust, applying its lessons to counter indifference, intolerance and genocide.
“The judges felt the piece deserves to be honored. The Philly Awards Committee decided to introduce the Unique Concept category to make sure ‘Collective Voices,’ got the recognition it deserved. We look forward to continuing the category in the future as a special honor to organizations, recognizing organizations that use a less traditional path to create an impact for their organization and mission,” Goyer said.
Jean Zeldin, MCHE’s executive director, noted that, “To our knowledge, ‘Collective Voices’ is the only project of its kind nationally, providing succeeding generations with the opportunity to express their thoughts and experiences as children and grandchildren of survivors.”
Judges had high praise for the book, making such comments as:
“An inspiring collection of stories and other memories. There was a nice variety to the collection, including recipes, stories, and poems. The pictures were a great addition. Thank you for helping us never to forget!”
“I loved reading this. I poured over every word because the stories were so poignant. Clearly there is a huge appeal for this target audience, and hopefully, a much wider audience who could benefit from the stories being told.”
“This is an incredibly innovative and moving piece of work. I grew as a person by reading the stories, a few of which have stayed with me, and likely will for some time.”
The “Collective Voices” project was supervised by Fran Sternberg, MCHE’s director of university programs and adult education, and facilitated by Benjamin Furnish, editor of UMKC’s BkMk Press. The project was funded by the Jewish Heritage Foundation of Greater Kansas City. “Collective Voices” sells for $10 plus tax and is available at the MCHE office at the Jewish Community Campus on through its online store at mchekc.org.