Sisters are Chanukah art contest winners

For the second year in a row, Gaby Azorsky was one of the top finishers in the annual Jewish Chronicle/Chabad House Chanukah art contest. The eighth-grade student and member of Congregation Beth Torah created a computer-generated piece on canvas that was judged the best two-dimensional artwork among students in grades 6-12.

Gaby’s younger sister, Chloe Azorsky, a fifth grader, also won an iPod nano device for submitting the best three-dimensional menorah.

Although no grand prize was awarded this year, Chabad House provided iPod nano devices to the top finishers in each of the three categories in which the contest received entries. The subject matter this year was limited to the menorah, the main symbol of Chanukah, which begins tonight, Friday, Dec. 11, and continues for eight nights.

In addition to the Azorsky sisters, Sammy Galapo, a fifth-grade student at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, won an iPod music- and video-playing device for having submitted the winning entry in the two-dimensional art category for students in grades K-5.
No one in grades 6-12 submitted a 3-D menorah, so no prize was awarded in that category. However, the contest received about 50 entries in its other three categories.

Gaby Azorsky explained that she was inspired to create her winning artwork after seeing the exhibition of Andy Warhol prints now on display at Union Station. Her menorah was not painted, but, rather, created using a computer and Adobe’s Photoshop program.

“I took a picture of a menorah off of flickr, which is a Web site where you can get images, and I put some effects on it,” Gaby said, after she was informed of her win. “I made it black and white, and then put different colored, opaque squares on top of that.”

She printed out her design using special dyes, and then transferred it onto the canvas with a hot iron.

Chloe Azorsky said she initially thought about making a drawing, “but that somehow developed into the idea of dreidels leaning against a structure.”

She looked up some of the lesser-known verses to the traditional dreidel song, and then printed them out. Each of eight verses is attached to a small piece of wood that fits in a slot below each dreidel, and each dreidel/candle holder is made to look like the material spoken of in the song lyric — mud, sand, plastic, etc. (See below for complete lyrics)

The dreidels are made of polymeric clay, commonly known by the brand name Sculpey. Chloe said her father, Bryan Azorsky, helped her cut out the wooden pieces to make the base.

HBHA fifth-grader Sammy Galapo said he was doing homework Sunday when he decided to make a drawing and enter it into the Chanukah art contest. His piece shows the hero of the Chanukah story, Judah Maccabee, raising a sword that forms the base of a menorah.

“The first thing that popped into my head was Judah Maccabee,” said Sammy.

The winning entries will be displayed at Chabad’s “Chanukah Bowl” party set for 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, at Olathe Lanes East, 303 N. Lindenwood Dr. (on the northwest corner of  West 135th Street and Mur-Len Road) Every child who entered the contest received a free ticket to the party, which will include games, music and holiday treats.


Spreading the news

The Chabad Houses in the Kansas City area are spreading word of the Festival of Lights with more than just the 13th annual Chanukah art contest. Two large, new public menorahs were to be erected on prominent corners of the metro area, according to Kansas City’s Chabad House Program Director Rabbi Mendy Wineberg.

Rabbi Wineberg said one 15-foot-tall menorah was to be erected on the southeast corner of Nall Avenue and College Boulevard, while another was to go up on the Country Club Plaza, on the northwest corner of Ward Parkway and J.C. Nichols Parkway, across from the Plaza Tennis Courts and near the Salvation Army’s bucket display.

There is also a large menorah in front of the Chabad House in Overland Park.

In addition, Chabad will host a menorah-lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, at the Kansas City, Mo., Sister City Bridge over Brush Creek at Central Street. Chabad of KU will do the same thing at 6 p.m. Sunday at South Park in Lawrence, Kan

Last week, Rabbi Wineberg and his colleagues from Chabad of the Plaza (Rabbi Itche Itkin) and Chabad of KU (Rabbi Zalman Teichtel) visited Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson at the Capitol in Topeka to present him with a hand-made menorah in honor of the holiday.

“That is the idea of a public menorah — to remember the miracle that God did for us,” said Rabbi Wineberg. “If people see it and don’t have a menorah of their own, maybe they will get one. And if they do have one, maybe they will remember to light it.”

Chloe Azorsky’s menorah poems

I had a little dreidel,
I made it out of clay,
and when it’s dry and ready,
then dreidel I shall play

I had a little dreidel,
I made it out of mud,
and when I went to spin it,
it crush(ed) up in a thud

… I made it out of sand,
and when I went to spin it,
it crumbled in my hand

… I made it out of plastic,
I put a gimel on every side,
that dreidel is fantastic

… I made it out of wood,
and when I spin my dreidel,
I always feel so good

… I made it from a broom,
I think I’ll try to talk it,
into cleaning up my room

… I made it out of chocolate,
and when I went to spin it,
it melted in my pocket

… I made it out of soap,
I spun it in the bathtub,
and hope that it will float

… I made it out of bread,
I did not spin my dreidel,
I ate it up instead

JFS programs help seniors remain independent

After one year of operation, two new Jewish Family Services programs are helping dozens of Kansas City seniors maintain their independence.

JET Express, which provides door-to-door transportation, and Help@Home, which provides home-repair and other services, allow seniors to avoid having to move out of their private homes and into assisted-living type facillities. Both are available to anyone in the metro area who meets certain criteria.

JET Express (JET is an acronym for Jewish Elder Transit) has provided more than 1,000 rides since September 2008, and the demand is increasing. For a flat fee of $2.50 each way, people 65 and older who have no other means of transportation and who are not wheelchair bound can call and get rides around town — to doctors appointments,  hairdressers, shopping, volunteer commitments, lunch with friends, cultural activities. “Any activity that keeps older adults active and independent (is eligible),” said Dawn Herbet, director of Older Adult Initiatives.

JET Express riders must call five working days ahead of the time they need a ride. The hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Trips are limited to 30 miles round trip beginning at the driver’s home, unless it’s for medical purposes, in which case the 30-mile limit is waived.

“We can only give one ride a week at this time, until we get a larger cadre of volunteers,” Herbet said. “We’re hoping to go to two rides soon.”
Ruth Forman and her mother, Phyllis Forman, use JET Express on Friday nights to attend Congregation Beth Torah’s Shabbat service.

“My mother is 94 and cannot see, and I’m disabled, so I can’t drive,” Ruth Forman said. “So it’s a real gift because we get to be together, and we get to go to temple. … We’ve had drivers who are courteous, personable and safe.

“It’s all about sharing, and I’m just really appreciative.”

Volunteer Bill Kessler averages about six hours a week driving, and says he could use some more help behind the wheel. Kessler is old enough himself to be a JET Express rider, but said he’s lucky he is in good health and still able to drive. It’s gratifying to help, he said.

“People are so appreciative; mostly ladies. It really gives you a good feeling. It’s a fantastic thing,” Kessler said. “I think more people need it, and we need more and more drivers. If we could get people to volunteer just one time a week, it would help.”

Volunteer drivers must be at least 21 and have a valid driver’s license, auto-insurance coverage and their own vehicle. They must have a training session, too.

To volunteer as a JET Express driver, contact Adrienne Kizer, (913) 327-8257, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Need a hand?
Currently, there 37 families encompassing 54 individuals have enrolled in Help@Home. This program is available to those 65 years and older, or who have a physical or mental disability. Monthly membership fees are figured on a sliding scale based on income.

Fee subsidies for Jewish seniors are available through the Jewish Federation, and subsidy funds from other sources have been earmarked for members of the general community.

“We never want financial need to be a reason why people are not part of the Help@Home program,” JFS’s Herbet said. “We’re extremely fortunate to have funding through the Federation to offer grant funds, so monthly fees can go down as low as $7.50.”

Help@Home provides minor home repairs and chore services; computer troubleshooting; annual home-safety assessments; information and referral to community resources; and a medical-alert device that can be worn around the neck or as a bracelet. Many of these services are offered in cooperation with John Knox Village.

Herbet said the home-safety assessment is important to help older adults guard against falls.

“One of the major reasons why older adults have to leave their homes is because they wind up getting hurt,” she said.

Home repairs are done by Seroj Terian, 38, JFS’s community handyman, who has been providing between 18 and 39 client visits monthly. Terian left Sprint about three years ago to start his own handyman business. After a couple of years, he joined JFS.

He said he has always been handy, having rehabbed a few houses he owned.

“I’ve always liked working with my hands and fixing things if I can,” he said. “I didn’t like sitting around in a cubicle all day long.”

Terian occasionally is called for bigger jobs than he can handle, but JFS has a backup plan. It has screened local contractors involved in many different trades. So if, for example, a client needs his/her water heater replaced, he/she at least can get the name of a reputable plumber.

There have been times when Terian was called upon to do a job no one could handle.

“We had a member who had an obnoxious woodpecker … who made his home in a tree in her front yard and was driving her crazy,” he said. “She wanted me to climb up in the tree and scare the bird away. She was at the point where she wanted it shot, but it’s a protected species. That was pretty funny.”

Members can call any time, day or night, if there’s an emergency like a broken water heater. An answering service contacts whoever is on call.

Some of the jobs Terian has done are plumbing, electrical and drywall repairs, patching driveways and walkways and installing adaptive devices like ramps and electronic seats for people to go up and down stairs.

For Ann and Dan Stern, Terian has been “just wonderful.”

“There are lots of things around the house (to do),” Ann Stern said. “My husband is ill, and I don’t want him on ladders. Seroj is taking care of the little things that he used to be able to do. This way, we can be independent, and Seroj will do it all. We save up little (jobs). I can’t tell you what all he’s done.”

Ann Stern said Terian once spotted some shelving that looked like it might tip over, so he fixed it. A friend of hers was having her new granddaughter visit and needed a crib. Terian borrowed a crib and put it together for the woman; then when the granddaughter left, he disassembled the crib and returned it.

“I wish more people would take advantage of (Help@Home),” she said. “We hope people will give this as a Chanukah gift.”

A push for volunteers
With just one handyman on staff and two people on call during his off hours, Dawn Herbet said, JFS will make a major push in 2010 to seek community volunteers to support Terian.

“So, if you were an electrician and you want to volunteer, you can help him. If you were a plumber at one time or a fixer-upper in your own house and want to help older adults stay in their homes, we’re here,” she said.

“This gives people another outlet to volunteer in our community. We’re really wanting volunteers.”

Call Adrienne Kizer, (913) 327-8357, to volunteer as a handyman.

Help@Home is also beginning to branch out into socialization and educational programs, Herbet said. On Sunday, Dec. 6, JFS co-sponsored a genealogical workshop with Heritage Center at one of the Johnson County public libraries.

Herbet said JET Express and Help@Home help older adults to remain independent and active.

“They may not need Seroj one month, but they can possibly need him three times in another month,” Herbet said. “They have someone they’re comfortable with; somebody who they know; somebody they know who helps their other friends.

“And it also ties people into JFS and other services — case management and information and referral services. So it’s kind of an all-encompassing program. It’s not just having one person to unclog your toilet; it’s really about keeping an eye on our older adults and making sure they know there’s one agency that’s there for them for a lot of different things.”

Patti Glass leaving Wayside Waifs after six years

Wayside Waifs President Patti Glass has announced her retirement after more than six years at the helm of the Kansas City area’s largest pet-adoption center. Before joining Wayside, Glass was executive director of Jewish Family & Children Services, as the agency was then known.

Glass will remain at Wayside until its board of directors names her replacement.

“I am so proud to have … (been) part of Wayside Waifs. It is truly an extraordinary organization that saves lives and gives homeless, abandoned and abused animals a second chance,” said Glass. “I feel very fortunate to be able to end my career with such an organization.”

During Glass’ tenure, Wayside Waifs has doubled the number of annual animal adoptions it facilitates (now over 5,000), and improved the quality of animal care.

Glass was also instrumental in developing Wayside Waifs’ Web site  (waysidewaifs.org), which she said is now the organization’s most powerful marketing tool, showcasing hundreds of adoptable animals. Likewise, under Glass, Wayside has recognized the power of social media, garnering nearly 4,000 Facebook fans and 2,500 Twitter followers.

The organization is now recognized nationally as one of the country’s premier “no kill” animal shelters. (Ed. note: “No kill” basically means that no healthy animal will be euthanized, no matter how long he/she has been at the shelter.)

“Under Patti’s leadership, Wayside has been transformed into a financially solid no-kill shelter that has steadily increased its adoptions,” said Board Chairperson Sandy Johnson. “Her active role with the animal-welfare community will be a loss for not only Wayside, but the community at large.”

When she does step down, said Glass, age 58, she looks forward to traveling, golfing and spending time with her family.

“I lost my husband five years ago to cancer, and it changes your perspective on life,” Glass said. “While you can, you had better go do the things you want to do, because you don’t know when your time will be over.”

Heartbreak and joy
Retirement means Glass will no longer have to raise $3 million each year to support Wayside’s $4.3 million annual operating budget. Wayside generates $1.3 million a year in adoption and other fees, including one area that has burgeoned under Glass’ leadership — pet memorials. Wayside offers cremation, burial and headstones for pets. Its pet cemetery is now the largest in the nation, with over 12,000 animals interred.

But, of course, the focus is on living animals, which come to Wayside, Glass said, from three main sources: animal-control agencies, owners who surrender their pets and transfers from other shelters. With Missouri a center for so-called puppy mills, animals confiscated during raids often wind up at Wayside, Glass said.

It’s heartbreaking, she said, to see the neglected condition in which some animals enter Wayside’s care. On the other hand, “Every time you see one go out the door with a new owner, all the heartbreak is worth it,” Glass said.

A cadre of volunteers makes it possible for Wayside to stretch limited budget.

“They are the ones out there, walking the dogs in the nasty weather,” Glass said. “If they don’t come, the dogs don’t get out during the day.”

And while dogs often get the focus, Wayside has an equal number of cats up for adoption at any one time, Glass noted, in addition to a steady supply of rabbits and the occasional ferret, bird, etc.

With its 60-plus-year reputation for good deeds, Glass said, “It’s the greatest thing to go out in the community with a Wayside T-shirt on and have people stop you and tell you their Wayside story.”

(Full disclosure: After repeated pleading by his daughters, this reporter adopted a Wayside dog four years ago.)

Even though Wayside is already among the nation’s best and largest animal shelters, Glass said, she wishes her successor luck in “taking it to the next level.”

Although Wayside facilitates thousands of animal adoptions each year, “When you see the need that is out there, it’s just a drop in the bucket,” Glass said. “We can always do more.”

Concert tribute to Benny Goodman centennial

Maybe it’s because his star burned so brightly so long ago. Maybe it’s because he was white and Jewish. Maybe the dapper, slicked-hair image works against him today. But for whatever reason, Benny Goodman doesn’t get his due as a jazz innovator on par with Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker or John Coltrane.

Clarinetist Ken Peplowski is out to challenge that notion when he leads his quartet in a Benny Goodman Centennial Celebration concert Friday, Dec. 18, at the Folly Theater. (See below for details)

“Benny is as important a figure in jazz as all those people you mentioned,” Peplowski said in a phone interview this week. “When Benny came along, it was like a quantum leap forward in his approach to the clarinet and also the way his big band sounded. It was a hard-swinging band that was … a little more refined musically than some of his predecessors …”

Peplowski said it’s easy to forget that “When Benny made all those great records, they were the pop music of its day, and he was as popular as the Beatles. You listen to these live broadcasts from the 1930s, and people are yelling and screaming. They would follow the personnel like a baseball team. If someone left the band, it was a big deal. …”

Element of excitement
Peplowski, age 50, grew up playing in polka bands in his native Cleveland, but loving rock and jazz, too. He joined Goodman’s band on saxophone a year and a half before the King of Swing died in 1986.

Peplowski said he tries to recreate the feel of a Benny Goodman concert, rather than ape an old recording.

“If I am asked to do the music of Benny, I don’t treat it like a history lesson,” Peplowski said. “I don’t wear old clothes or play solos (straight) off the records. I think that is boring. It kills jazz music when you start treating it like a museum piece. I play these songs that he played, but I put my own spin on them; I play them my way, and hopefully I can show people that his music is still very much alive and can still be exciting.

“That element Benny had of excitement is lacking in a lot of music. Not just jazz, but pop music, too, has become very sanitized and safe. In the early days of jazz, those guys were like tightrope walkers. There was an element of daring. I use this music as a vehicle to convey that same sense of excitement that I had in listening to Benny.”

As Folly Development Director Steve Irwin put it, “If you’re a clarinetist and want to do an homage to Benny Goodman, you better be able to deliver the goods — and Ken Peplowski can!”

Apart from the music itself, Goodman is credited by historians with leading a racially integrated band more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier.
And Peplowski confirmed Goodman’s reputation as a demanding boss.

“Benny was a very tough bandleader; quite the taskmaster, but he really got results,” Peplowski said. “Even at a later age, he had nights when he could blow us off the bandstand; just turn on the heat musically and raise the band to another level, just by his playing.”

That’s what Peplowski will be aiming for at the Folly next Friday night.

“We play music we like, and we try to show audiences why we like it,” Peplowski said. “It’s fun, exciting, real and spontaneous. To me, that’s the beauty of a jazz concert.”

Goodman and klezmer
Was Benny Goodman influenced by klezmer? Ken Peplowski says: “Yes and no. It’s an interesting question that has been debated for years. They claim Benny did grow up playing some of that music. He had a couple of hits based on Jewish tunes — ‘Bei Mir Bist Du Shön’ and a freilach (Ed. note: literally, Yiddish for “cheerful;” figuratively a traditional, upbeat instrumental) that he turned into a pop hit. There is that element in jazz music that comes from European concert bands. If you go back to the early days of New Orleans, the tradition of the clarinet improvising around trumpets playing together, all of that comes from concert bands. New Orleans marching bands are based on European concert bands. And so you will find that improvisation is not limited to jazz. It’s there in klezmer, in Bulgarian music, all over the world. And for whatever reason, the clarinet is used, more often than not, as the improvising instrument that plays a filigree over whatever anyone else is doing. So jazz, klezmer, polka — what came first, the chicken or the egg? I’m not sure, but that Jewish element is definitely in there.”

A Benny centennial
In honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth (b. May 30, 1909), the Folly Jazz Series presents Ken Peplowski’s Benny Goodman Centennial Celebration at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, at the Folly Theater, 12th and Central streets. Tickets are $15, 24 and $30 each. Call the Folly box office, (816) 474-4444, or Ticketmaster, (800) 745-3000, to charge by phone.

Jewish Federation next-generation leader profile

“With each new opportunity I think to myself, is this an area where I can have an impact?”

That’s the key question Dana Schwartz asks herself in deciding whether to volunteer and why she’s excited about co-chairing Shalom Baby with Kelly Shapiro. Shalom Baby is a new program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, supported by the Women’s Division and The PJ Library program.

Shalom Baby will welcome parents and their newborns or newly-adopted children into the Kansas City Jewish community. Starting Jan. 1, volunteers will begin delivering Shalom Baby gift baskets filled with goodies for new babies and their families. The baskets also include useful resource guides to the Kansas City Jewish community.

“Studies show that the birth of a child is a key moment when many couples begin to think about their Jewish identity and the community,” said Schwartz. “Shalom Baby is a no-pressure way to say, ‘We care and here’s some information about how you can build connections to the Jewish community.’ ”

A graduate of Indiana University with a master’s degree in human resource management from Loyola University in Chicago, Schwartz and her husband, Neal, moved back to her hometown of Kansas City in 2000. Their daughter, Lydia, was born in 2003. Schwartz was a manager of training and development at DST Systems until January 2004 when she made the decision to stay at home with Lydia. In 2005, their second daughter, Melanie, was born.

“The business perspective and people skills I utilized in my career are transferable to my volunteer work,” she says. As a relatively new mom herself, Dana also brings understanding of the challenges faced by young families such as work/life balance; meeting other Jewish parents and establishing Jewish customs in their homes. With this understanding, she hopes to have an impact on helping others strengthen their connections to the Jewish community. She also feels it is important to be a role model to her children, showing them the importance of identifying their personal connection to the Jewish faith and pursuing these passions.

Schwartz began volunteering for Women’s Division before her children were born. After participating in the B’not Kehillah leadership program and the B’not Kehillah La’atid giving circle, she served on the board of the Federation’s Young Adults Division and two years as a Super Sunday co-chair.

Besides her parents, who instilled a love for Judaism and giving back to the community, Schwartz cites two other major influences in her life. The first was studying piano and performing in competitions throughout her childhood, which she says helped cultivate discipline and self-confidence. The second was her high school experience as a foreign exchange student in Belgium. By immersing herself in another culture, she not only learned and adapted to another culture, but also discovered the benefits of a more peaceful world by accepting our differences and focusing on our commonalities. It may come as no surprise that she now also volunteers for the American Field Service (AFS), an international youth exchange program, as well as Indiana University recruiting, Family Farm Fest at Deanna Rose, Congregation Beth Shalom and her childrens’ schools.

Still, her main focus is spending time with her kids, husband and dog, Maggie. Explains Schwartz, “Maggie’s a Malamute-Husky-German mix. We consider her our firstborn.”

Dana Schwartz
• Born in Kansas City, Mo., 1970
• Shawnee Mission South High School, 1988
• B.A. in psychology with business concentration, Indiana University/Bloomington, 1992;
M.A. in human resources, Loyola University, 1996
• Former manager of training and development for DST Systems Inc.
• Resides in Overland Park, Kan.
• Married to Neal Schwartz; vice president, Cerner Corporation
• Children: Lydia, 6, and Melanie, 4
• Recent Reading: “The Last Lecture,” by Randy Pausch
• Favorite Jewish Food: Mom’s carrot mold
• Trips to Israel: 1

KC native returns with Chanukah book

When Neil Shapiro returns to his hometown next weekend to sign copies and talk about the latest book he has illustrated, “The Amazing Menorah of Mazeltown,” (Red Rock Press, 2009) he’ll be coming full circle, so to speak.

That’s because his first published illustration was done in connection with a Jewish holiday while living in Kansas City. That was the 1964 Rosh Hashanah edition of The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, where Paul’s mother, the late Anne Schirn, worked as an administrative assistant to then-Editor Milton Firestone. Teen-age Neil Shapiro drew a rabbi blowing a shofar and a Torah scroll for that edition of the paper.

His artistic inclination led him on to a 35-year career in the advertising industry in Chicago, working as an art director and creative director. Since his retirement a few years ago, he has worked primarily as an illustrator.

“I am real excited to be coming back to Kansas City,” Neil Shapiro said in a phone interview from Chicago this week. “This book that I am coming in to town to sign is my first Chanukah book. …

“It’s the story of little village on the banks of a Cry-Me-A-River, based on a story that I first wrote about 40 years ago, as a Chanukah present for my first wife while I was in art school. I sat on it. I didn’t do anything with it. I had made up a little dummy book … and gave it to her as present.”

A few years ago, Shapiro illustrated another book for Red Rock Press, which he called “a very successful, little gift book called ‘Wisdom and Wacks for the Graduate.’ It is excerpts from commencement speeches. That’s how I hooked up with the publisher, and they asked what else I had going on.

“I described this menorah idea that had been sitting in the back of my head all those years. They loved the idea, but they were not crazy about my writing.”

Collaborative process
Shapiro said that on his recommendation, the publisher reached out to the husband-and-wife writing team of Hal Dresner and Joy Fate. Hal Dresner is a retired screenwriter (“The Eiger Sanction,” “Night Gallery,” etc.), whom Shapiro has previously met and with whom he had hit it off.

The couple accepted the offer to write the book, and the entire process from idea to publication took about 18 months, Shapiro said.

“I put my ego on the shelf and decided to do what it takes to get it done,” Shapiro said. “So the writing was a compromise between what I had done and the new version. I decided my contribution was going to be strictly visual. I take no writing credit.”

Shapiro pronounced himself pleased with the final version.

“It is the story of Mazeltown,” Shapiro said, “and how it was plunged into darkness when the molehills surrounding it grew too tall and became mountains. At the same time, Molly finds a menorah in back of her father’s junk shop. It was left by an old rabbi. It has an unusual center stem, with four rabbis stacked on top of each other with their arms outstretched, so that each hand holds a candle.

“Once my contribution became purely visual, I decided to do something to make it stand out, and I hope the menorah is that,” Shapiro said.

“Every night a candle is lit, a new kind of lightness comes to the town the following day, he said. “It’s a very simple story.”

Shapiro said he has several other book ideas percolating in hishead, but he declined to discuss them, other than to say they, too, involve Jewish holidays.

In addition to his visit to Kansas City, Shapiro will do some talks in the Chicago area timed to coincide with the Chanukah season.

Neil Shapiro talks books
Neil Shapiro will appear at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, at the Barnes & Noble store in the Oak Park Mall, 11323 W. 95th St. It’s free and open to the public.
He will also make several appearances Monday, Dec. 14, at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and at the Jewish Community Center Child Development Center.

Federation needs money to help local Jews in need

The year isn’t over yet. and already the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, through its partner agency. Jewish Family Services, has helped more than 80 individuals/families in need of financial assistance. In just 10 months of 2009, the Gesher Fund alone — that’s the short-term, emergency assistance fund — has given out nearly 300 percent more in assistance than it did in all of 2008. To top it off, another one of the three funds used to provide financial assistance, the Chesed Fund, is completely out of money.

The purpose of the Chesed Fund, established in 2007 with a $50,000 grant from Menorah Legacy Foundation, is to help individuals and families who have chronic financial challenges.

“People who qualify for assistance from this fund include those who have lost their jobs, have been out of work for months and months and have exhausted all their savings and resources. If they fit the criteria, they are able to access this fund for months at a time,” said Shari Stimetz, Federation assistant executive director.

“People are not getting jobs as quickly as they once were because of the massive layoffs we’ve had in Kansas City. That’s why they are finding themselves in these circumstances for a longer period of time,” she continued.

Chesed, Stimetz explained, was created as a way to help people who don’t qualify for Gesher Fund grants. Gesher, meaning “bridge,” was a fund created in 1985. It only makes one-time, emergency disbursements. Last year, 32 individuals or families received financial assistance through the Gesher Fund to the tune of $20,316. Eighty individuals and/or families have received $75,000 so far this year.

The difference between Gesher and Chesed, the fund that is out of money, is that Chesed can help people for a longer period of time. Typically, qualifying Chesed participants need regular assistance with specified living expenses. Last year the Chesed Fund helped 34 community members in the amount of $22,718. Through October, 63 clients have received $65,320.

“When Chesed was created in 2007, we never anticipated what would happen in the end of 2008 with the collapse of the economic system,” Stimetz said.

Don Goldman, JFS’s executive director, explained that Chesed funds are good for people who tend to struggle with something every year.

“Chesed is just that little bit of help that could help them make a transition from not making it to moving over the line to just make it,” he explained.

New funds
Since Chesed and the third fund, Gesher XL, are both relatively new, not many people know about them. According to Stimetz, that’s made it harder to raise money for the funds.

“People respond to and know about the Gesher Fund. But it’s harder to get people to understand that we have people that are in emergency situations, and it’s lasting for months, through no fault of their own,” she said.

“We’ve been lucky to get several grants from Menorah Legacy Foundation and several smaller grants from the Jewish Community Foundation Legacy Fund for the Chesed Fund, but we are out of money,” Stimetz said.

All three funds help Jewish residents of the five-county area (Johnson and Wyandotte in Kansas; Jackson, Clay and Platte in Missouri).

Gesher XL is intended to help with large, one-time emergencies. It was established in 2007, as Stimetz said, “through the generosity of an anonymous donor.” Last year, the Gesher XL Fund assisted nine community members in the amount of $31,968. Through October, Gesher XL has had seven clients and disbursed $23,057. Grants have helped an émigré couple with funeral expenses. Another time it helped a man repair his home after a fire. He had let his homeowner’s insurance lapse.

Money for these three funds does not come from the Federation’s annual fundraising campaign.
“The bulk of it is raised through the generosity of those in the community,” Stimetz said. “We also get some grants from foundations and family funds.”

This wasn’t always the case. Stimetz explained that, prior to this year, these assistance funds received monies from the annual campaign.

“We felt that because the campaign was down significantly, we would raise it from other sources so we wouldn’t disadvantage the agency programs,” she explained.

Getting assistance
Federation is responsible for building up the funds, but the money is actually handed out by Jewish Family Services.

“They do the intake and assessment process and make the determination as to how much money is distributed,” Stimetz said.

The first step in obtaining assistance is leaving a message on the JFS Helpline, (913) 327-8293. JFS’s Goldman said the message will usually be returned by a caseworker within 24 hours. He said the initial phone call between JFS and the client takes between five and 10 minutes.

Once the exact problem has been determined, Goldman said the client is matched with a social worker, who meets with the client to make a fuller assessment of the situation.

Thereafter, the social worker presents the case to the case-management team to decide whether the client qualifies for funds. Each application is evaluated on an individual basis. There are clear guidelines, but no set formula to receive assistance. Goldman said clients are also often referred to credit counselors or financial planners to help them get a handle on their financial problems.

Goldman said clients may also be referred to other social-service agencies.

“If somebody needs financial assistance, we make sure they are taking advantage of other government programs. Almost everybody is also referred to Yachad (the kosher food pantry). We have a whole checklist of programs to make sure that they are taking advantage of all the things they can,” Goldman said.

Clients who need emergency funds may also qualify for other JFS programs.

“We always look to see if they need counseling or if they are an older adult that could benefit from Jewish Senior Network. We always look to our own programs and the community’s to see what they qualify for,” Goldman said.

Stimetz added that if the client is a member of a congregation, JFS will make sure the rabbi knows about the situation -- so long as the client agrees.

“We want one hand to know what the other hand is doing so that we maximize the available resources,” she said.

Ask early
The number of people seeking assistance has increased so much over the past year, Goldman said, that it can now take several weeks to actually receive assistance.

“We are seeing three times the number of people we saw last year,” Goldman said. “In 2008, 40 people, on average, called JFS for assistance each month. In August of this year, more than 200 people called for help. While not all of these phone calls are for emergency needs, this shows that there has been a marked increase in the need for all of our services, including emergency assistance.”

Goldman points out that JFS’ staff has not tripled during this time. With the help of interns, JFS has two full-time-equivalent social workers who work on this type of life-crisis assistance. In addition, JFS can bring in an extra social worker to help as demand increases.

“If somebody comes to us and says ‘I’m being evicted tomorrow,’ it’s very hard to help. If someone comes in and says ‘I’m being evicted in three weeks,’ we can help,” Goldman said.

Disney trip no problem for back-to-nature kid

“How You Gonna Keep ’Em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree)” went the World War I ditty. But for Samantha Farb, an 11-year-old Jewish girl who has grown up in the Kansas City area without ever having been to a movie theater or drunk a can of soda pop, seeing Disney World last month was no big deal.

Sure, she’s proud that she won the National Association of Women in Construction’s “Block Kids” contest, first on the local level, then regionally and finally nationally. That’s how she won the trip to Orlando, Fla.

But Samantha said it is more fun to attend Vegetarian SummerFest, the annual conference of the North American Vegetarian Society, where she and her family can pick from the meat-free smorgasbord, than it was to see Space Mountain or the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

“We went to Disney World and to a water park … called Blizzard Beach,” Samantha said last week. “I liked the water park more than the amusement park.”

At Disney, she and her father, Joe Farb, “walked around and saw everything,” but didn’t ride too many rides. “I don’t like roller coasters,” Samantha said, allowing as how she did enjoy one car ride and one flume ride.

Sammi and her father had to bring their own snacks (“home-made chocolates, crackers”) because they adhere to a strict diet. In addition to being vegan,  (Ed. note: one who omits all animal products from the diet) they are also gluten-free. Gluten is a protein contained in wheat, rye, barley and many other foods.

Samantha’s mother, JoAnn Farb, is the author of the self-published, 2008 book titled “Get Off Gluten!” It details how the Farbs removed all gluten from their diet after determining that doing so would bring relief to Samantha’s chronic stomach aches and support their own health, they believe. JoAnn attributes the family’s previous move to a vegan diet for relieving Joe’s 30 years of suffering from “hay fever” and allergies.

A trained microbiologist and former sales person for Merck, the multinational pharmaceutical/chemical company, JoAnn Farb had come to the conclusion that eating animal products was neither healthy nor ethical, and she has brought her family along. Now she spends most of her time on the energy-efficient home the family built three years ago in a wooded valley near Lawrence, Kan.

She likened the attention paid to food — its ingredients, the way it’s grown and harvested — in the Farb household to that of an Orthodox Jewish family who keep strict kosher.

They grow much of their own food in gardens and greenhouses on their property. And, of course, JoAnn cooks most of it herself. Recipes make up the bulk of “Get Off Gluten!”

So strong is JoAnn’s desire to raise her children according to her own beliefs that she has home-schooled Samantha and her older sister, Sarina, although Sarina this year began attending Lawrence, Kan., Free State High School.

Their home in rural Lecompton has a television set for watching videos, but no cable or satellite reception.

Fostering creativity
It was through a group of home-schoolers that the Farbs found out about the NAWIC “Block Kids” contest. This was the fifth year that Samantha had entered the contest, in which the participants are typically given a few simple objects and told to build a project with them.

At this year’s local competition — held in February in the Kansas City area — Samantha was given a small bag of plastic building blocks, a piece of paper, some string and a piece of aluminum foil. Her finished project 45 minutes later was meant to represent a solar-powered, wind-powered, hydroelectric-powered facility that recharges batteries for use in construction equipment. It showed three building-block windmills with fan blades made of paper, solar collectors made of foil and a paper river.

“The judges walk around and ask you questions as you work,” Samantha said. “I brainstormed before I got there, and that helped.”

Although her projects in the four previous years had never even made third place, this time her work was chosen from among 74 entries, and thus advanced to the regional competition. In that case, it was not the actual project but a booklet that showed and explained it. Samantha’s project won again at the regional level, and again on the national level. In addition to the Florida trip, she also received a $500 savings bond for her creativity.

“The funniest part,” her mother wrote in an e-mail last month, “is that we have been a ‘no Disney’ family. … We have avoided toys and household goods with any tie-ins to Disney. We have sheltered our children from all things Disney — to minimize their seduction into the mass-market consumptive culture and to foster the growth of their imagination and creativity.

But now — because of her creativity — she will, at 11 years of age, get a full-blown Disney experience.”

JoAnn Farb doesn’t think having her younger daughter spend a day at Disney or having her older child attend high school will corrupt their hard-won independence.

“In some ways, it (home-schooling) is a challenge, and in some ways it makes parenting easier,” JoAnn Farb said. “We are the primary influence. Serena began going to high school, but her feet are firmly on the ground. She knows who she is. … It’s hard to raise strong, healthy kids if you are inundated by (popular) culture.”