When I started thinking about this project and discussing it with my family, my husband had one request. He wanted to be the first person to make a donation in response to the blog.
I kept reminding him that if he wanted to be first, he needed to actually be first! That is, he needed to stop talking and get on the internet and make the actual donation.
Yesterday he did just that - but not the way we'd planned.
Instead of making a donation in honor of my 50th birthday (which he promises he will still do), my husband made a donation to JNF to plant a tree in Israel in memory of his grandfather, who passed away yesterday morning after a brief illness and a very long, wonderful life. Max would have turned 98 next month, on Valentine's Day. He was arguably one of the happiest people I've ever met - always smiling, always ready to share a song (he loved the crooners: Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, etc.). He loved tennis, playing well into his seventies and then continuing to enjoy the game as a spectator, and he loved his family. He was a parent to three, a grandparent to five, and a great-grandparent to seven. He will be missed.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
These are a Few of My Favorite Things...
Thank you for taking the time to learn about some of the charities that have touched my life. Italicized quotes are taken directly from each organization's website.
My grandparents were supporting their favorite causes even before I was born, so I grew up hearing about family connections to non-profit organizations. For years, my paternal grandfather chaired a pro-am golf tournament that raised money for charity. Somewhere at St. Barnabas Hospital there's a room with his name on it. And every year, like clockwork, my mother would purchase the latest UNICEF desk calendar and greeting card collection, while I carried the UNICEF collection box from house to house on Halloween. My grandmother was a lifelong member of Hadassah (as is my mother).
From an early age I was encouraged to get involved. Etched permanently into my brain is the sound of coins dropping into the blue and white Keren Ami box each Sunday morning, accompanied by the "tzedakah song" (Pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters, hear their merry clink, clink, clink...). The money traditionally went to JNF (1) and was supplemented by the occasional gift of a tree planted in Israel in my honor. At the time, I really thought that the tree would have a little plaque with my name and that someday I would go to Israel and visit my tree.
Last summer my older son went on his first trip to Israel, traveling on the Chetz v'Keshet program run by the Friends of Israel Scouts (2). The trip brought together American and Israeli teenagers for four weeks of travel, learning, and adventure, including five days of Gadna (Israeli Defense Forces) training. I don't think he saw trees with his name on them, either, but his trip included community service projects. They planted their own trees, worked in a food pantry, and harvested vegetables for a soup kitchen.
Our boys attended various day camps before they were old enough to attend NJY, and some of these are definitely on my list! Near and dear to Josh's heart, not to mention our home, is Woodcock Nature Center (4). Nestled in the woods on the Wilton/Ridgefield border, Woodcock has provided countless hours of fun for our kids and even for our Israeli cousins, Orr and Stav, who spent time there (as a volunteer counselor and as a camper, respectively) during one of their summer visits to our home.
Josh also loved the weeks he spent as a junior marine biologist in camp at The Maritime Aquarium (5) in Norwalk, CT. For many years we enjoyed a family membership to the aquarium, making frequent visits to the seals, otters, and other creatures that call the aquarium home and both boys enjoyed birthday celebrations with friends at the aquarium's IMAX theater. These days the boys love showing the aquarium to my nephew, David, too.
Both boys and all three of our cousins (Orr, Stav, and Ya'ara) also spent various summer weeks enrolled at the Summer at Wooster. Along the way they participated in cooking classes, rocketry, speed demons (building model race cars), "Fear Factor" (all kinds of fun challenges), puppetry, and general recreation programs.
Most important, the summer program introduced us to the school itself and, of all the charities on this list, Wooster School (6) might be the one that is having the most direct impact on my life at this point in time. Both boys are happily enrolled there and I can truly say that it has become a second home for our family. (Of course, given the amount of driving back and forth to Wooster that I do on a weekly basis, perhaps I should include a pollution offset charity on here, too!)
Inspired by our founder’s commitment to religion, intellectual excellence, simplicity, and hard work, we are guided by
I would be remiss not to mention the two universities from which I hold degrees: Drew University (7), where I earned an undergraduate degree in economics and Yale University School of Management (8), where I earned an MBA. (Okay, technically, I hold an MPPM - a Master's in Public and Private Management. But many years ago Yale decided to change the degree to an MBA and alumni were given the option to switch on or off the record to an MBA. It's a lot easier to say I have an MBA than to explain an MPPM...)
In the months before I enrolled at Yale I spent time travelling and living Europe where I occasionally stayed with hosts I met through an organization called Servas (9), whose tagline reads "With every true friendship we build the basis for World Peace." In several towns in Germany and France I met interesting people who welcomed me into their lives for several days each, sharing stories, recommending places to see off the usual tourist trails, and in one instance inviting me to speak to a class of English language learners at a local high school. Living in New Haven I became a Servas host and enjoyed welcoming several travelers to my home.
Two other organizations related to education are on my list of favorite things. The first, Wilton Education Foundation (10), provides additonal funding to Jeff's school for special projects, including providing funding to seed the purchase of SmartBoards for the classrooms. Jeff was one of the teachers who piloted the use of the SmartBoards. (Jeff asked me to add that during his fifteen years in the classroom he has amassed a significant collection of Save the Children neckties. A portion of the proceeds from every tie purchase supports the work of this organization.)
The second, DonorsChoose.org (11), has been one of our favorite charities for many years. Not every school district is fortunate enough to have a local education foundation. DonorsChoose allows teachers to post requests for funding for special projects.
We've also been the recipients of direct support (in terms of education and information) from several amazing not-for-profit organizations.
First and foremost on that list is the Adoptive Parents Committee, Inc. (12). This year will mark our 16th year of involvement with APC. In the years since we attended our first APC conference in 1997 we have developed lifelong friendships, attended countless parties and picnics, and created a sub-chapter in Connecticut. I have facilitated monthly meetings, presented at conferences and at other chpater meetings, served on both the regional board and on APC's Board of Governors, and spent two terms as co-President of the Hudson Chapter.
The Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center (13) has answered many, many, many questions from me - through their online and warmline systems - and I can't thank them enough for helping to educate us over the years. They are an invaluable resource!
As I reach the half-century mark, I look at my life and realize I am fortunate to be surrounded by loving friends and family. I'd like to honor my family by including these additonal organizations on my list.
When Jacob was a toddler, we had the opportunity to visit the Heifer International (14) Learning Center at their ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. Our visit included a tractor-drawn hayride, a tour of their experiential centers, and an opportunity for Jacob to harvest a carrot, which they were nice enough to cook and serve him for lunch.
In addition to my "50th Birthday Mitzvah Project," we are busy this year with Josh's Bar Mitzvah project, as he will turn 13 just a few weeks before I turn 50. For his project Josh chose to support The Tiny Miracles Foundation (15), which is dedicated to helping families with premature babies in Fairfield County. He is busy making fleece isolette blankets to donate (his hands-on portion of the project!) and we are creating activity kits (one for each centerpiece at the Bar Mitzvah) which the organization will distribute to older siblings of premature babies. We know firsthand how hard it is to keep a toddler busy while taking care of a premature infant in the NICU!
Jacob's Bar Mitzvah project supported the Redding Food Bank (16). As often as we are able, we donate food and other essential household items to support our neighbors in need. At his Bar Mitzvah we collected more than 50 bags of food for the pantry. The bags filled the back of the van!
It goes without saying (but I'm saying it anyway) that I wouldn't be approaching fifty if it weren't for my parents.
So, at my mother's request, I am happy to introduce you to the Friends of Yad Sarah (17).
Finally, in memory of my dad, I encourage you to visit Donate Life America (18) to learn more about organ and tissue donation and to register as an organ donor.
Eighteen charities that have touched my life (fifty would have been thematically correct but overwhelming)...thank you for learning about these amazing organizations and the work they do.
And I thank you in advance for helping me celebrate my birthday by sharing your stories and the organizations you have chosen to support in my honor. I can't think of a better way to celebrate!
My grandparents were supporting their favorite causes even before I was born, so I grew up hearing about family connections to non-profit organizations. For years, my paternal grandfather chaired a pro-am golf tournament that raised money for charity. Somewhere at St. Barnabas Hospital there's a room with his name on it. And every year, like clockwork, my mother would purchase the latest UNICEF desk calendar and greeting card collection, while I carried the UNICEF collection box from house to house on Halloween. My grandmother was a lifelong member of Hadassah (as is my mother).
 |
| The blue & white "pushke" |
Over the past 109 years, JNF has evolved into a global environmental leader by planting 250 million trees, building over 210 reservoirs and dams, developing over 250,000 acres of land, creating more than 1,000 parks, providing the infrastructure for over 1,000 communities, bringing life to the Negev Desert and educating students around the world about Israel and the environment.
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| Is the Yankees hat standard issue? |
Formed in 1995, the Friends of Israel Scouts, Inc. – Tzofim (FOIS) encompasses programs that began in the early 1960s. These programs develop and maintain a connection between the Tzofim (Israel Scouts) movement in Israel and North American Jewry. The Tzofim movement is the only youth movement in Israel that is both non-political and non-sectarian. Both the Tzofim and FOIS recognize that Israel’s youth are her hope and future.After spending July in Israel, Jacob returned to the NJY Camps (3), where he finished the summer - and his seventh season - as a camper. Our younger son was also at camp this summer (his fourth season). Once upon a time, I was a camper at the same camp...and many years ago my father-in-law also attended this program! But my connection to NJY doesn't end with summer camp...
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| Preschoolers at the 2012 Forever Families Weekend |
NJY Camps is also the supporting organization and host for Forever Families Weekend, the program that I created and continue to run annually for Jewish families touched by adoption. And for the last seven years the camp has also been the site of our favorite family vacations (not to mention the place I learned to play mah jongg!).
And while I'm on the subject of camp...
Our boys attended various day camps before they were old enough to attend NJY, and some of these are definitely on my list! Near and dear to Josh's heart, not to mention our home, is Woodcock Nature Center (4). Nestled in the woods on the Wilton/Ridgefield border, Woodcock has provided countless hours of fun for our kids and even for our Israeli cousins, Orr and Stav, who spent time there (as a volunteer counselor and as a camper, respectively) during one of their summer visits to our home.
 |
| At the aquarium |
Josh also loved the weeks he spent as a junior marine biologist in camp at The Maritime Aquarium (5) in Norwalk, CT. For many years we enjoyed a family membership to the aquarium, making frequent visits to the seals, otters, and other creatures that call the aquarium home and both boys enjoyed birthday celebrations with friends at the aquarium's IMAX theater. These days the boys love showing the aquarium to my nephew, David, too.
Both boys and all three of our cousins (Orr, Stav, and Ya'ara) also spent various summer weeks enrolled at the Summer at Wooster. Along the way they participated in cooking classes, rocketry, speed demons (building model race cars), "Fear Factor" (all kinds of fun challenges), puppetry, and general recreation programs.
Most important, the summer program introduced us to the school itself and, of all the charities on this list, Wooster School (6) might be the one that is having the most direct impact on my life at this point in time. Both boys are happily enrolled there and I can truly say that it has become a second home for our family. (Of course, given the amount of driving back and forth to Wooster that I do on a weekly basis, perhaps I should include a pollution offset charity on here, too!)
The mission of Wooster School is to educate the minds of its students, to cultivate their ethical understanding, to develop their artistic appreciation and expression, to promote their physical well-being -- thus to prepare each individual for college and for a useful life.
Specifically, our mission is to foster the commitment of each person at Wooster
- to strive for the highest level of learning he or she is able to reach, and to develop curiosity, passion, and habits of hard work conducive to a life of learning;
- to speak, to write, and to act honorably at all times;
- to cultivate his or her own religious understanding, and to be open to the ideas and beliefs of others;
- to honor diversity in all its dimensions as essential to the nature of the institution and to the student’s experience in it;
- to act in ways this School has stood for and celebrated since its founding in 1926, in kindness, in service, in fair play, in humor, in delight in the well-being of others.
Inspired by our founder’s commitment to religion, intellectual excellence, simplicity, and hard work, we are guided byWooster is an amazing community! Take a moment (or three minutes) to watch this video which details just a few of the ways in which Wooster gives back.our School Prayer to be gentle, generous, truthful, kind, and brave; our Honor Code to support Wooster’s community of trust; our Warner Rule to insist that no one may impede the learning, growth, or well-being of another; our Self-help tradition to expect our students to take responsibility for the condition of the campus, for their relationships, for themselves; and our School Motto, to draw from each according to ability and to give to each according to need
I would be remiss not to mention the two universities from which I hold degrees: Drew University (7), where I earned an undergraduate degree in economics and Yale University School of Management (8), where I earned an MBA. (Okay, technically, I hold an MPPM - a Master's in Public and Private Management. But many years ago Yale decided to change the degree to an MBA and alumni were given the option to switch on or off the record to an MBA. It's a lot easier to say I have an MBA than to explain an MPPM...)
In the months before I enrolled at Yale I spent time travelling and living Europe where I occasionally stayed with hosts I met through an organization called Servas (9), whose tagline reads "With every true friendship we build the basis for World Peace." In several towns in Germany and France I met interesting people who welcomed me into their lives for several days each, sharing stories, recommending places to see off the usual tourist trails, and in one instance inviting me to speak to a class of English language learners at a local high school. Living in New Haven I became a Servas host and enjoyed welcoming several travelers to my home.Two other organizations related to education are on my list of favorite things. The first, Wilton Education Foundation (10), provides additonal funding to Jeff's school for special projects, including providing funding to seed the purchase of SmartBoards for the classrooms. Jeff was one of the teachers who piloted the use of the SmartBoards. (Jeff asked me to add that during his fifteen years in the classroom he has amassed a significant collection of Save the Children neckties. A portion of the proceeds from every tie purchase supports the work of this organization.)
The second, DonorsChoose.org (11), has been one of our favorite charities for many years. Not every school district is fortunate enough to have a local education foundation. DonorsChoose allows teachers to post requests for funding for special projects.
DonorsChoose.org engages the public in public schools by giving people a simple, accountable and personal way to address educational inequity. We envision a nation where children in every community have the tools and experiences needed for an excellent education.Over the years our family has funded projects on this site as part of our annual giving. We love looking at projects that match our children's current grades in school and making a choice of something we think they would love to do (or have done) in their own classrooms.
We've also been the recipients of direct support (in terms of education and information) from several amazing not-for-profit organizations.
The Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center (13) has answered many, many, many questions from me - through their online and warmline systems - and I can't thank them enough for helping to educate us over the years. They are an invaluable resource!
 |
| The carrot is VERY small! |
As I reach the half-century mark, I look at my life and realize I am fortunate to be surrounded by loving friends and family. I'd like to honor my family by including these additonal organizations on my list.
When Jacob was a toddler, we had the opportunity to visit the Heifer International (14) Learning Center at their ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. Our visit included a tractor-drawn hayride, a tour of their experiential centers, and an opportunity for Jacob to harvest a carrot, which they were nice enough to cook and serve him for lunch.
Heifer International's mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the EarthIn the years since that visit, we have supported Heifer many times as part of our annual giving, helping to send chicks and ducks, rabbits, bees, goats, cows, water buffalo, and milk and honey wherever Heifer is able to make a difference.
 |
| When they were young... |
Jacob's Bar Mitzvah project supported the Redding Food Bank (16). As often as we are able, we donate food and other essential household items to support our neighbors in need. At his Bar Mitzvah we collected more than 50 bags of food for the pantry. The bags filled the back of the van!
It goes without saying (but I'm saying it anyway) that I wouldn't be approaching fifty if it weren't for my parents.
So, at my mother's request, I am happy to introduce you to the Friends of Yad Sarah (17).
Yad Sarah is the leading volunteer-staffed organization in the State of Israel. With the assistance of over 6,000 volunteers in more than 100 locations, Yad Sarah provides help to over 400,000 people every year, addressing the home and health care needs of the frail and the disabled as well as victims of terror, children with special needs, and the homebound.I hope she will either add a comment to this blog or send me a guest post explaining her connection to Yad Sarah and why she asked me to add it to the list. (Because it turns out that I don't know - but I would like to...)
Finally, in memory of my dad, I encourage you to visit Donate Life America (18) to learn more about organ and tissue donation and to register as an organ donor.
Eighteen charities that have touched my life (fifty would have been thematically correct but overwhelming)...thank you for learning about these amazing organizations and the work they do.
And I thank you in advance for helping me celebrate my birthday by sharing your stories and the organizations you have chosen to support in my honor. I can't think of a better way to celebrate!
A Mitzvah* Project is Not Just for Thirteen-Year-Olds
Welcome to 2013!
This year I will celebrate my 50th birthday. Since June of last year I've been thinking about what I wanted to do to mark this milestone and after trying on and discarding many ideas, I've decided to do this: my 50th birthday mitzvah project.
I'm devoting 50 weeks of this year to this project. I'll be emailing, blogging, and tweeting to publicize the charities that have changed my life and yours.
Please consider my request that you donate $50 (or whatever amount is comfortable for you) in honor of my 50th birthday to the charity of your choice.
This blog includes this post about 18 non-profit organizations that have touched my life in the past 50 years. If you decide to donate to one of these, I thank you - and please let me know!
If you choose one of your own, then I'd love to know why you've chosen it. How has it touched your life? You can add a comment (below) or write a guest post (email me) so others can learn more about your charity of choice. Don't forget to include a link to the organization's website.
Be sure to subscribe to this blog (see the link to the right to register for email updates) so you can follow the fun!
[*Mitzvah is a Hebrew word that, in this case, means a good deed. It has become a tradition for boys and girls who are celebrating their Bar or Bat Mitzvah to take on a project in which they do some sort of charitable deed. Sometimes the project involves community service, sometimes it's a fundraising effot, sometimes the project is a way for them to publicize a good cause or educate others. This "mitzvah project" is a little bit of all three.]
This year I will celebrate my 50th birthday. Since June of last year I've been thinking about what I wanted to do to mark this milestone and after trying on and discarding many ideas, I've decided to do this: my 50th birthday mitzvah project.
I'm devoting 50 weeks of this year to this project. I'll be emailing, blogging, and tweeting to publicize the charities that have changed my life and yours.
Please consider my request that you donate $50 (or whatever amount is comfortable for you) in honor of my 50th birthday to the charity of your choice.
This blog includes this post about 18 non-profit organizations that have touched my life in the past 50 years. If you decide to donate to one of these, I thank you - and please let me know!
If you choose one of your own, then I'd love to know why you've chosen it. How has it touched your life? You can add a comment (below) or write a guest post (email me) so others can learn more about your charity of choice. Don't forget to include a link to the organization's website.
Be sure to subscribe to this blog (see the link to the right to register for email updates) so you can follow the fun!
[*Mitzvah is a Hebrew word that, in this case, means a good deed. It has become a tradition for boys and girls who are celebrating their Bar or Bat Mitzvah to take on a project in which they do some sort of charitable deed. Sometimes the project involves community service, sometimes it's a fundraising effot, sometimes the project is a way for them to publicize a good cause or educate others. This "mitzvah project" is a little bit of all three.]
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