Amy Shapiro’s answer to the question why she is so committed to the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City reveals a lot about what makes the Federation uniquely important, as well as what makes it hard to communicate its often behind-the-scenes role in making our Jewish community a great place to work and live.
“The feeling that the Federation was the right place for me to give my time was gradual,” said Shapiro. “But the more Federation programs I attended and the more I learned, the more I realized that the Federation supports all of the agencies that are meaningful to me.”
Pieces of the puzzle
Shapiro graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in business and worked at UMB Bank as an auditor and private banker. Afterwards, little by little, the pieces of the Jewish community puzzle came together for her.
Steve Israelite hired her in 1995 as the first program officer at the newly established Jewish Heritage Foundation, where she gained in-depth knowledge about community needs and the role of local foundations. A few months earlier, she married Peter Shapiro, an ear, nose and throat physician with a passion for reading Torah.
Shapiro remembers being initiated into volunteer work in 1997 by Cathy Tivol, who asked her to join the board of the Menorah Medical Center Women’s Auxiliary. When the hospital sold to for-profit HCA in 2003 and Shapiro was the Auxiliary’s incoming president, she came up with the idea of using its assets to create a “miniature Jewish Heritage Foundation.” The Menorah Women’s Foundation, where she continues as president, grants approximately $30,000 annually to causes that fit with the spirit in which the Auxiliary funds were originally raised.
A growing portfolio
Shapiro’s involvement with the Jewish Federation also began in the late 1990s, mostly for “social reasons.” However, she quickly became engaged on the Women’s Division board and the committee that planned and launched its signature B’not Kehillah leadership program.
Later, with two young daughters, she introduced them to Federation/CAJE-sponsored activities like Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing and BLING (Building Liberated Independent Nurtured Girls). Sophie is currently in ninth grade and Emma in seventh grade at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, where Shapiro serves on the PTO board and heads up the Café volunteers. Her example as a volunteer is already rubbing off on Sophie, who serves on the Federation’s B’Yachad (formerly Hebrew High School) student advisory committee and the Jewish Community Foundation’s B’nai Tzedek program. Sophie also recently returned from a Midwest Center for Holocaust Education trip to Washington, D.C., which was supported in part by the Federation.
Shapiro is now in her sixth year on the Federation board of directors, where her portfolio has included the Planning and Allocations Committee and the Identity and Education Task Force. Over the years, she has pursued a variety of adult Jewish education opportunities, including an adult Bat Mitzvah, graduation from the Federation-sponsored Helzberg Leadership Fellows and from the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School at the Jewish Community Center, where she is currently enrolled in Ayeka, a spiritual and personal development workshop.
Besides volunteering at HBHA, she is in charge of alumni relations as a board member of Jewish Family Services and is serving her first year on the board of KU Hillel. This summer, she’s been chosen to lead a Kollel-sponsored mission to Israel for women.
Federation at the core
The Federation’s central role in so many of the programs that benefit our Jewish community is not obvious to many at first. Shapiro’s recognition of its role and her feeling that the Federation was the right place to give her time has grown substantially over 15 years.
“When my kids were young, I didn’t pay full attention to why I was choosing certain volunteer activities,” she explains. “Later, when I had more free time and opportunity to choose projects that were meaningful to me, I realized that so much of the work I had done — without my knowing it — was tied to the Federation.”
I just realized that the Federation was always at the core and that its mission and vision mirror my own personal values,” she says. “It is constantly working to make sure that we have a continuum of opportunities from birth to seniors. It seeks to strengthen Jewish life in Kansas City and around the world. I cannot do that on my own.”
AMY SHAPIRO
Born in Kansas City, Mo.
Shawnee Mission South High School, 1987
University of Kansas, B.A., Business Administration, 1991
Married to Peter Shapiro, M.D., 1995
Lives in Leawood
Children: Sophie 14, and Emma 13
Recent Reading: The Secret Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Sarah’s Key.
Favorite Movie: Any romantic comedy
Favorite Jewish Food: Falafel
Just for Fun: Tennis, reading and travel
Trips to Israel: Four
Synagogue Affiliation: Beth Shalom