It was April 1974. Waiters scurried about the ballroom of the Muehlebach Hotel in downtown Kansas City, Mo., and organizers stressed over final details. The Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy was founded just eight years before, and this, the night of the first Civic Service Awards Dinner, was to be the school’s boom or bust fundraising event. The fledgling Jewish day school was attempting something fairly revolutionary — organizing a dinner that would attract hundreds of prospective HBHA supporters. As Richard Berkley, then the mayor of Kansas City, Mo., took the stage and accepted his honor, more than 500 guests stood up and applauded. At that moment, the extraordinary tradition that is the Civic Service Award Dinner had begun.
Blanche Sosland, an HBHA founder and attendee at that first dinner, said, “The idea for the dinner came from a Jewish day school in New Jersey. HBHA was the first school in the area to execute such an event, and other schools soon saw the success of our dinner and organized their own dinner fundraisers. It was important to have an influential honoree like Mayor Berkley, because it attracted a lot of guests and generated interest in the school’s activities. We began to use the Civic Service Award Dinner to educate the community as to what the day school is about — obtaining a stellar secular and Jewish education, and instilling a sense of pride of Judaism in its students.”
Carl Puritz, an HBHA founder and 2003 honoree, said, “My uncle Hyman Brand and I were ecstatic to get 500 people to come and pay $50 per plate for the first dinner in 1974. We had no idea that the dinner would grow to over 1,000 people in the following years, due to our honoring of prominent people in the Kansas City community, such as attorney Arthur Magg (honored in 1975), attorney Ed Smith (honored in 1986) and conductor of the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern (honored in 2007), just to name a few. Eventually, donors generously began giving contributions in order to sponsor tables at the dinner, and HBHA developed a strong network of supporters, both Jewish and non-Jewish, in large part due to the success of the Civic Service Award Dinner.”
Forty years later the dinner is still around and has grown to become a thriving and integral part of HBHA’s fundraising and student recruitment campaigns. The dinner is also important because it recognizes outstanding leaders who give back to their community.
This year, Civic Service Award Dinner co-chairman, 2010 honoree and president of the Hebrew Academy Foundation Howard Jacobson said the award will be presented to Joyce and Stan Zeldin. Jacobson is chairing this year’s event with Jane Sosland.
“These two individuals have served leadership roles spanning many facets of the Jewish community, from the Jewish Community Center, to HBHA, to synagogue life, and are very deserving of this honor,” Jacobson said.
The honorees recognized over the 40 years of the dinner feature community leaders from all backgrounds, including politics, business, sports and the Jewish community. Politicians who have been honored include congressman and former Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Emanuel Cleaver, along with his wife Dianne, as well as Kansas City’s current Mayor Sly James, who was honored just last year. From the business world, leaders such as Henry W. Bloch of H&R Block, honored in 1980, and Donald J. Hall of Hallmark Cards, honored in 1976, boosted the prestige of the dinner. The former owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Wizards franchises, Lamar Hunt, was honored in 1997, and Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame third-baseman George Brett was honored in 2000.
Though these names certainly drew large crowds to the annual HBHA event, the many Jewish community leaders who also received the honor are no less important. People like Maria and Fred Devinki, the 2011 honorees, and families like them, helped HBHA blossom into the respected school that it is today.
The 2013 Civic Service Award Dinner will honor not only the Zeldins, but also Rabbi Morris B. Margolies, of blessed memory, by dedicating the Program Book to his memory. Rabbi Margolies was intimately involved in obtaining the initial funding for the school, joining forces with Blanche and Neil Sosland, Puritz and Joanie Greenberg, Joan and Walter (of blessed memory) March, Beryl and Richard Silberg, Milton and Bea Firestone (both of blessed memory), and Sidney and Carol Deutch.
HBHA junior Jacob Margolies, the grandson of Rabbi Margolies, said, “It means a lot to know that my grandfather will be honored in such a special way at the Civic Service Award Dinner because he ardently believed that a Jewish day school was absolutely necessary to foster a wholesome and strong Jewish community. My grandfather was a part of a group of founders who overcame many obstacles in order to make HBHA a success, and as the Civic Service Award Dinner’s purpose is to promote HBHA, it is fitting that he is being honored for a cause he worked so hard for.”
The Civic Service Award Dinner will also feature an auction, musical performances by HBHA students, a video depicting a day in the life of HBHA, and brief remarks from Head of School Howard Haas.
Haas said, “This is my seventh year experiencing the Civic Service Award Dinner, and it is really a rewarding event. To have many of our students, faculty, board members and sponsors in attendance is really a wonderful thing each year. The dinner is a great opportunity to showcase the accomplishments and incredible strides that HBHA students make. Our school is special in that the high schoolers are friends and role models to the younger students, and we have such a family atmosphere that we know is evident in the video played that evening. We are proud to be the fourth oldest kindergarten through 12th-grade community Jewish day school in the country, and the Civic Service Award Dinner is our chance to shine as a school, and to encourage fundraising and attract prospective students.”
Indeed, the Civic Service Award Dinner is much more than a fundraiser. It is also an opportunity for the community to learn more about the school, and to become closer supporters of HBHA, which currently boasts an enrollment of approximately 235 students.
It is now April 2013. Waiters will soon scurry about the Overland Park Convention Center, and yes, the organizers of the dinner will be stressed about last-minute details. Though the venue, entertainment and guests have changed, the main goals of the 40th Annual Civic Service Award Dinner remain unchanged from that first dinner in April 1974. The dinner will again be organized to showcase HBHA’s prestigious academic environment and close-knit social feel, and to honor local leaders who give back to the community.
“Here’s to hoping that the next 40 years of the Civic Service Award Dinner are as successful and meaningful as the first 40,” Haas said.
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Sam Abrams is a senior at HBHA and editor in chief of The HBHA Ram Page. Sam plans to attend Georgetown University in the fall.
Dinner details
The 2013 Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy Civic Service Award Dinner “Seeding the Future 2013” will be held at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, April 28, at the Overland Park Convention Center. Tickets, sponsorships and advertisements can be purchased online at www.hbha.edu by clicking on one of the topics under the “Seeding the Future” logo. For more information, contact Director of Development Kerry Cosner at 913-327-8156 or . 5:30 p.m.
