Like many job seekers, Bryan Schmutz had tried the usual routes to land a position. A December 2011 graduate of Washburn University with a degree in mass media, Schmutz moved back to Kansas City to begin his job search in earnest. He placed his resume on various Internet sites, went to job fairs and did informational interviews with professionals in the field.

“I explored as many avenues as I could find because you never know where that job is going to come from,” he said.

Weeks and weeks went by without Schmutz landing a job.

“A lot of what was on my resume and what I was getting calls on wasn’t what I was interested in,” he said.

Then a friend suggested Schmutz check out Jewish Employment Services, a joint program of Jewish Family Services and Jewish Vocational Service. JES helps participants make connections in the job market and search for existing employment opportunities. Specifically, the program offers assistance in numerous ways — career assessment, resume development, individualized and group coaching, interviewing and networking skills, job search strategies and making direct connections to jobs. The JES team is led by Gayl Reinsch along with career coaches Cari Boasberg and Joyce Hill. Their goal is always the same — help people get jobs. That’s just what happened for Schmutz.

“I met with Cari Boasberg who worked with me on my resume, cover letter writing techniques and interviewing skills. She helped me discover skills I had but wasn’t aware of,” Schmutz said. “We did mock interviewing in our coaching sessions and she really helped me improve my answers.”

It was JES that connected Schmutz to his current position, that of marketing coordinator for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. He serves as project manager and account coordinator to support the JCC’s marketing department’s internal “clients.” These include the fitness and sports department, CDC preschool, summer camp, the Heritage Center and cultural arts, as well as Jewish Life and Learning. The JCC’s marketing department designs more than 800 individual posters, brochures and other materials annually; Schmutz is responsible for getting the projects completed accurately, on time and to meet and exceed clients’ expectations. In addition, he is the JCC’s webmaster, in which he maintains its website.

Boasberg said Schmutz was very open to suggestions she made regarding his job search.

“Bryan expressed frustration with the amount of attention his resume had been receiving,” Boasberg said. “He was very open to changing the format and wording on his resume. You could see the excitement on his face as his new resume came together.”

Interviewing skills was another area in which Schmutz felt he needed to practice.

“Mock interviews during coaching sessions really helped Bryan realize how he could improve his responses and succinctly outline how he was the best candidate for the position. Overall he was eager to learn and improve — and he did,” Boasberg said.

Schmutz’s supervisor, JCC Marketing Director Stu Goldstein, said JES helped him land the right candidate for the job.

“Bryan has been a very good hire for us,” Goldstein said. “At first, I was rather reluctant to interview someone with limited experience, but Cari Boasberg at Jewish Employment Services convinced me to think differently, and I’m glad she did. Bryan has established a great working relationship with the teams we support and is quickly developing a reputation for delivering high quality work. He’s become a significant asset to my department.”

Schmutz is thrilled he’s using his training in a position he likes. He said JES and its staff played a large role in his successful job search.

“They knew what I was looking for and knew if something would be good fit,” he said. “It was very helpful and very relevant.”

If you would like assistance with your job search, contact JES at or 913-327-8278, or visit the JFS web site at www.jfskc.org/jes.

SARAH ZELDIN TURNS 100 — The “Summer of Bubie,” marking the 100th birthday of Sarah Zeldin and highlighted by visits from her out-of-town children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, kicked off last month with Shabbat dinner and a birthday brunch for immediate family.

It continues on Sunday, Aug. 12, when friends and relatives of the family matriarch are invited to celebrate with her at an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. at Village Shalom, hosted by her children. No invitations have been mailed.

An active resident of Village Shalom, “Bubie” has 22 grandchildren (including spouses, as she always does), 24 great-grandchildren (with two more on the way) and two great-great-grandchildren.

When asked the secret of her longevity, she replied, a “Stay busy, but at some point you need to slow down a little.”

CDC’S EXPANSION COMPLETE — I checked with Jacob Schreiber, the Jewish Community Center’s executive director for a progress report on the CDC’s expansion. You may remember that the CDC took over space that formerly belonged to the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy located right off the main lobby of the Jewish Community Campus. Schreiber said the new Pre-K Suite is complete and is ready to open for the new school year.

“We will be welcoming over 50 new children to our CDC, with four full-time spots remaining,” he said on Monday.

He added that the first phase of the refurbishment of the existing CDC space will be completed in a week. That includes new paint, carpeting and lighting in the shared space, plus a program enrichment room and a 6-foot Western Wall made of Jerusalem stone. He said Phase II enhancements will be made to existing CDC classrooms over the next year, as the JCC continues its campaign to fund the improvements.

“We’ve also added a curriculum specialist to further enhance our five-star rated program,” Schreiber said.

‘IN THE   KITCHEN   WITH BONNIE’ — Earlier this year we published a story about “In the Kitchen with Bonnie,” hosted and produced by Bonnie Rabicoff. The foodie series is now available to TV audiences 24/7 on Time Warner’s “KC on Demand” (Channel 411).

“In the Kitchen” began June 2010 as a radio and web production, then expanded media offerings to include educational TV and print. “We are pleased to add an “ON DEMAND” TV component for our audiences,” said Rabicoff. “Approximately 10 new shows will be featured each season, making our series accessible to viewers at a time most convenient for them.”

The show, which now includes more than 60 episodes, captures the artistry of Kansas City’s award-winning chefs. Each week, audiences join Rabicoff in the chef’s kitchen to select food products, prepare a signature dish, plate it and pair it. Chefs also talk about their journey to and inspiration “In the Kitchen.”

The program format has expanded to include “In the Cellar” (featuring a global portfolio of organic and sustainably produced wine), “Field-to-Fork” (preparing signature dishes directly from the harvest) and “Cooking with Kids” (creating easy, nutritious, fun & affordable meals to help reduce child obesity).

“In the Kitchen” appears each month in Eating Well in Kansas City, a magazine devoted to local, organic and seasonal eating. To learn more about where you can watch, listen to or read about “In the Kitchen with Bonnie,” visit the website at www.inthekitchenwithbonnie.com.

CELEBRITY CHEF MAKING ALIYAH (JTA) — Celebrity chef Jamie Geller is chronicling her upcoming move to Israel in a series of documentary videos.

Geller, a television producer, author and cooking celebrity, is producing with the Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah assistance organization a documentary series following her and her family as they prepare to make aliyah and finally land in Israel.

She is leaving from New York on the Aug. 13 Nefesh B’Nefesh charter flight in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Geller founded the Kosher Media Network, which combines traditional media such as magazines, books and broadcast with digital, online and social media. In the spring of 2011, the network unveiled its Joy of Kosher consumer brand, launching JoyofKosher.com and the Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller magazine. Episodes can be watched at: www.nbn.org.il/joyofaliyah.

Five local congregations will gather Saturday night, July 28, at the Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah to commemorate Tisha b’Av. Joining B’nai Jehudah are Beth Shalom, Kol Ami, Ohev Sholom and Temple Israel. The service is set to begin at 8:15 p.m. and conclude approximately 10:15 p.m.

Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner, B’nai Jehudah’s assistant rabbi, said Beth Shalom, Ohev Sholom and B’nai Jehudah have marked erev Tisha b’Av together for the past three years with learning, prayer and the reading of Lamentations.

“This year our circle of congregations is expanding as Kol Ami and Temple Israel will also participate. We will continue to explore ways to share our gifts with one another,” she said.

Rabbi Shuval-Weiner explained that B’nai Jehudah is hosting this service on behalf of Beth Shalom, “since they are in the midst of their rabbinic transition.” Along with B’nai Jehudah’s clergy, Rabbis Jonathan Rudnick, Doug Alpert, David Glickman and Jacques Cukierkorn are expected to participate. Members of the participating congregations will be involved in reading selections from Eicha (Lamentations). The service is open to anyone in the community.

The service will include the traditional Hebrew reading along with teachings in between each chapter.

“We will talk about the theme of each chapter and then we will draw out strands of what’s going on,” Rabbi Shuval-Weiner said. “We use a siddur that has the English next to the Hebrew. That way even if people don’t understand Hebrew, when they hear the lilt of the sound they can follow along in the English as they hear the wailing and the crying as it comes out of the text.”

The Reform rabbi explained that in the traditional world, Tisha b’Av is very significant.

“Other than Yom Kippur, it is the second most important fast day on the Jewish calendar,” she said.

A major difference between Yom Kippur and Tisha b’Av, the rabbi explained, is that Jews take a more internal look at themselves on Yom Kippur, while Tisha b’Av is more communal.

“On Yom Kippur you stand before God and look at all of the ways you’ve not lived up to your full sense of potential in order to make light and return to your highest sense of self,” Rabbi Shuval-Weiner said.

On Tisha b’Av, she said, as a community Jews look at their low points.

“We look at where we have allowed ourselves to be vulnerable and weak that these terrible things potentially might have fallen upon us. That’s the traditional way of looking at it. How do we, as a community, recalibrate that,” she said.

That’s why Rabbi Shuval-Weiner said it is traditional to read the book of Lamentations.

“This is Jeremiah’s expression of lament following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Historically these are the days that are the most heart wrenching for us as a Jewish people,” she said.

Even the tune that is used in chanting Lamentations, Rabbi Shuval-Weiner said, is in the sound of a lament.

“It’s really the crying out, the heart of the people, crying out how could these horrific things happen to us,” she said.

For many years Reform congregations steered away from Tisha b’Av and Rabbi Shuval-Weiner said it begs the question, “Why would we want to be part of all this?”

She explained that, coming from a psycho-social-spiritual place, if on Yom Kippur we look at ourselves as individuals, how can we look at ourselves as a community?

“How do we rise above tragedy? How do we reach out our hands to one another so that we are strong? How do we rise out of despair and live beyond that and live to be a people, as it says in the book of Esther, who are full of joy and hope and purpose?” Rabbi Shuval-Weiner continued to say that “we live in a world that is very broken, that destroys and consumes one another. To look at that, we have to go through the cathartic experience in order to be renewed and do the work of building, to be the antithesis of destruction.”

To continue to illustrate the importance of Tisha b’Av, she points to a story in the Talmud that discusses how Jerusalem could have been destroyed. She said it teaches the lesson that Jerusalem was destroyed because of senat chinam, senseless or baseless hatred.

“The idea was that the community had lost its moral compass and that individuals were treating each other disrespectfully, and that ill treatment of one another in essence caused a snowball to go downhill. All of the actions that happen because of an interchange between two people who didn’t treat each other with a sense of humanity initially led to that which would cause our community to fall.

“So really the lesson that anyone can take away from Tisha b’Av, whether you are traditional or liberal, is the idea that we are sacred human beings who are put in this world as co-partners with God to be builders of the world. But when we turn to our more base ways of engaging with one another, that’s what causes the kind of hatred, indifference, ignorance that leads to things like the Shoah, like Darfur, like the creation of terrorists and bombers. We as human beings have the ability to bring paradise to this world. We also have the ability to destroy it. So we have to go into that place of remembering what it’s like to be the one who has been the victim, the one who has had violence perpetrated on us in order for us to have that empathy to turn back into the world and say we will not be those destroyers.”

Tisha b’Av

Tisha b’Av (the 9th of Av) is a time of mourning within Jewish tradition, Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff noted in his Bisseleh Bytes email to members of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.

“According to our best historical evidence, the First Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians on the Hebrew calendar date of the 9th of Av, in the year 586 BCE. Almost 600 years later, the Romans burned the Second Temple down, also on Tisha b’Av, 70 CE. More than a dozen other horrific events in the life of the Jewish people — moments of oppression and destruction — occurred on the 9th of Av. Whether by fate or happenstance, this date has become synonymous with Jewish pain and suffering.”

In synagogue, the book of Lamentations is read and mourning prayers are recited. The ark is draped in black.

On Tisha b’Av itself Jewish people follow the same constraints as Yom Kippur. In addition to fasting many activities are prohibited including bathing, wearing leather shoes and marital relations. There are additional traditions to sit low to the ground just like a mourner does, not to greet people, and — because Torah study is always considered joyful, one is enjoined to only learn material that is connected to the tragic events of the day or other somber material.

Most congregations in the area will commemorate the 9th of Av. Besides the service at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah on Saturday night, July 28, which includes B’nai Jehudah, Beth Shalom, Kol Ami, Ohev Sholom and Temple Israel, the following congregations have planned commemorations that evening: Beth Torah, BIAV, Chabad House Center, KU Chabad, Torah Learning Center and Kehilath Israel. Additional worship is planned on Sunday, June 29, at BIAV, K.I., Chabad House, Beth Shalom, Ohev Sholom and TLC. For more information, contact the individual congregations.

Rabbi David Glickman was officially welcomed as the senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom on Saturday, July 14. As part of a restructuring of the clergy staff, congregational leaders had hoped to complete the new clergy team this summer with the addition of a person to fill the position of Clergy2. However, that won’t be the case.

Earlier this year the congregation decided to hire one person who would be responsible for all the education and music programs. Hazzan Robert Menes was given the opportunity to seek the new position, but declined to do so. He left the congregation in June and has already started a new job at Temple Beth Sholom in Summerlin, Nev., a suburb of Las Vegas.

In an email to members in late June, Kurt Kavanaugh, DDS, the congregation’s immediate past president, informed them that while a job offer was presented to a Clergy2 candidate, the applicant declined the offer and the position remains open. Therefore, Beth Shalom will continue its look for a cantor/educator to fill the Clergy2 position. As the official search season in the clergy community generally begins in winter and ends in late spring, it now looks like a person won’t be serving in that position until this time next year.

“This provides us the opportunity for reflection, gives us a chance to include Rabbi Glickman in this important process and it also gives us, the Beth Shalom members, a chance to lead and participate in services in a meaningful and spiritual way,” Dr. Kavanaugh said in the letter.

He continued that while the board and search committee were disappointed in their choice’s decision, “We are confident that we will be ahead of the game in this next search process.”

Dr. Kavanaugh said the Ritual Committee plans to hire a chazzan for the High Holy Days. In addition, Patti Kroll will stay on as the religious school coordinator for the coming year.

Beth Shalom is the city’s largest Conservative congregation with approximately 763 family units.

TOO HOT TO SHMOOZE — With temperatures constantly over 100,  more often than not lately, it must be too hot for loyal readers and PR professionals to schmooze right now.  Since we don’t have any traditional Listening Post items, we’re sharing Olympic tidbits this week.  Enjoy.

IOC holds surprise minute of silence for 1972 Munich massacre
(JNS.org) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) held a minute of silence in the London Olympic village Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September’s murder of 11 Israeli team members at the 1972 Munich Games.

“The 11 victims of the Munich tragedy... came to Munich in the spirit of peace and solidarity. We owe it to them to keep that spirit alive and to remember them... As the event of 40 years ago reminds us, sport is not immune from, and cannot cure, all the ills of the world,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The impromptu minute of silence was a surprise because Rogge had previously said the Munich massacre would not be commemorated at this summer’s London Games. Changing course, Rogge said Monday that the 11 victims deserved to be remembered.

This is the first time that the IOC has marked the massacre in an Olympic village. Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Olympics organizing committee, London Mayor Boris Johnson, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and several other IOC officials attended the commemoration.

Israeli college, despite no sports facilities, produces four Olympians
(JNS.org) — The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya does not have any athletic facilities on its college campus, but still managed to produce four students and graduates who are members of the Israeli team at this summer’s London Olympics.

IDC Olympians include law school graduate and business student Arik Zeevi, a 2004 bronze medalist in Judoka at the Athens Olympics; psychology student Alice Schlesinger, who also competes in Judoka; sailor Vered Buskila, an IDC law school graduate; and champion high jumper Danielle Frenkel, a law and business student whose knee injury will prevent her from competing in London.

The IDC’s athletic director is Ilan Kowalsky, head coach of the Israel’s national women’s basketball team (under 20).

Good sports? Iran says it will compete with Israelis at Olympics
(JNS.org) — Iranian athletes will compete against Israelis at the upcoming London Olympics, Secretary General of the Iranian Olympic Committee and Chef de Mission Bahram Afsharzadeh announced on Monday, Israel Hayom reported.

“We will be truthful to sport,” Afsharzadeh said. “We just follow the sportsmanship and play every country.”

Afsharzadeh spoke in the athletes’ village after signing the “truce wall,” a UN-backed initiative calling on warring parties around the world to end hostilities during the period of the games. “In sport and in Olympics, all the countries must [be] together with the teams in friendship,” Afsharzadeh said. “Solidarity for all the countries is very important.”

Tehran has been criticized in the past because some of its athletes withdrew from events against Israelis at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games.

Sportscaster Bob Costas to recognize slain Israeli athletes at Olympics
(JNS.org) — Responding to the International Olympic Committee’s refusal to hold a moment of silence at this summer’s London games on the 40th anniversary of 11 Israeli team members killed by Palestinian terrorists in Munich, sportscaster Bob Costas said he will recognize the Israelis when he covers the Olympics for NBC.

“I intend to note that the IOC denied the request,” Costas told The Hollywood Reporter. “Many people find that denial more than puzzling but insensitive. Here’s a minute of silence right now.”

A candidate for secretary of state in Missouri has stated that no Jews died in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and alleged that Jews were involved in that attack.

MD Rabbi Alam’s comments — he is one of two candidates in the Missouri Democratic primary for secretary of state slated for Aug. 7 — were first uncovered by Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday, July 10. The Free Beacon describes itself as an online newspaper dedicated “to uncovering the stories that the professional left hopes will never see the light of day.”

Alam’s comments were brought to The Chronicle’s attention by a reader and a short article published by JTA, The Chronicle’s national news service.

JTA referred to the Free Beacon story, which reported Alam said he stood by 9/11 conspiracy theories that he had espoused in early 2009.

JTA continued to report that Alam, in an interview, stated his belief in the “fact” that no Jews were killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and that the commercial airliners could not have been solely responsible for the collapse of the buildings.

The Free Beacon reported that Alam, a Muslim who was born in Bangladesh, has “trafficked in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”

U.S. State Department officials told the Free Beacon that between 200 and 400 Jews died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001; five Israeli citizens also were killed.

JTA also reported the Vos Iz Neias (VIN) website wrote that Rabbi Yair Hoffman, reporting for the website, contacted Alam and presented him with information that showed Jews were killed in the attack. Rabbi Hoffman also put him in touch with people who personally knew Jewish 9/11 victims.

Alam “offered his apologies and explained that he had been convinced by the material he had read on the Internet regarding the issue,” VIN reported.

But, VIN added, later in the interview Alam “still expressed some conspiracy thinking about the World Trade Center bombings.”

Alam’s comments reported by the Free Beacon and VIN also made the news in Israel, being reported on the www.IsraelNationalNews.com website also known as Arutz Sheva, a media network that calls itself “the only independent national radio station in Israel.”

Karen Aroesty, the Anti-Defamation League’s regional director for Missouri and Southern Illinois, noted that as a 501(c)(3) organization, ADL cannot get involved in election politics. She has, however, read the various news accounts regarding Alam’s statements.

“While we acknowledge that he has apologized for previously-held inaccuracies about 9/11 — we are still concerned that he holds onto and formally expresses anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the tragic events of the day. To the extent that he attended the event of an extremist (Sheikh Khalid Yasin) who holds anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and conspiratorial views, it is disturbing that he would even attend the event of such a figure,” Aroesty said.

Alam is running in the Democratic primary against Jason Kander, who is Jewish. Both candidates list Kansas City as their residence. Also running for secretary of state in Missouri are Republicans Scott Rupp of Wentzville, Shane Schoeller of Bolivar and Bill Stouffer of Marshall. Cisse W. Spragins of Kansas City is running as a Libertarian candidate and Justin Harter of Columbia is a Constitution candidate.

Alam’s website lists him as a satellite campaign manager for Obama and the Democratic Party in the Kansas City area during the 2008 presidential election. He is the state chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party Asian American Caucus, as well as its founder and also serves as the national chairman of the U.S. National Democratic Party Asian American Caucus. He is an educator and a veteran of the U.S. Army.

There may not be any Jewish athletes from Kansas City competing in the Summer Olympic Games that open Friday, July 27, in London but the local Jewish community will still be represented there by an Olympic veteran. Lisa Settles was hired once again by the Olympic Broadcast Services, which is a part of the International Olympic Committee, as a member of the broadcast crew that will provide television coverage to countries all over the world.

The first Olympics Settles worked was the 1988 summer games in Seoul and the 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be her eighth Olympics. She is a graphics operator and will be working at the wrestling competitions — freestyle for men and women and Greco-Roman for men. She worked at Olympic wrestling events twice before in Atlanta and Australia.

Settles’ job is to provide the words you see on the screen such as names and statistics.

“Basically any words that you see on the screen that’s not the score, that’s what I do during a game,” Settles explained.
She’s often too busy to actually get to watch the competition.

“I’m listening to a statistician, my assistant, the director, the producer and the announcers and we’re trying to tell the story of the game and what’s happening with graphics,” Settles explained.

During the year she mainly works football, basketball and baseball games, but she’s also worked some soccer and a little hockey.

“For the last seven years I’ve even worked the national spelling bee for ESPN. That’s a blast,” she said.

The size of the broadcast determines how many people provide graphics for a game. For instance if it’s a local network showing a baseball or basketball game, Settles explained there is usually only one graphics person working. If it’s an NFL game, there are often two graphics people.

“Super Bowls, World Series, All Star games, finals of anything … generally there are two people doing that job,” she said.

Settles works as a freelancer, meaning she is hired specifically for each event she works and doesn’t just work for one station or network. Sometimes she works here in town, but she also spends a good amount of time traveling to sporting events across the country.

Settles is a sports fan and attended many different events — including track, gymnastics, cycling and boxing — at that first Olympics in Seoul. She even saw diver Greg Louganis win two gold medals.

Now more than 20 years later, she has different priorities when she’s in an Olympic city.

“Now it’s all about seeing the country,” said Settles, who has actually been to London twice before — once working the Wimbledon tennis championships and once while a participant of the 1975 Pilgrimage to Israel.

“It would be nice to see Buckingham Palace and Big Ben,” she said. “It’s been many years since I’ve been there and I’d just like to get reacquainted with London and see what’s different about it.”

Settles’ career has given her the opportunity to travel the world. She stayed in the United States for Olympics in Atlanta (summer 1996) and Salt Lake City (winter 2002). She’s been to Seoul, Korea (1988); Sydney, Australia (summer 2000); Athens, Greece (summer 2004); Beijing, China (summer 2008), and Turin, Italy (winter 2006).

Her favorite country?

“By far it’s Australia,” she said. “I had always wanted to visit there. I worked the crew during the U.S. basketball team’s exhibition tour there before the actual games started and traveled to different cities in Australia for five weeks. I just loved it. The people were just awesome. I’d go back there in a second.”

Running close behind Australia in her list of global favorites is Beijing.

“The Chinese were much more friendly and warmer than I think I expected or most Americans would expect,” she said. “In China I remember walking through one of the neighborhoods. It was a very poor neighborhood and it was very hot there. People were sitting on the steps trying to get cool. I said hello to them in Chinese and their faces just lit up and I didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore. I tried to make a connection and they appreciated it.”

Whenever Settles travels to another country, she makes it a point to learn how to say hello, thank you and your welcome in their native tongues.

“I try to use it as much as I can. I’ve learned if you at least do that much, the people have a completely different attitude toward you and try to be helpful. It’s just awesome,” Settles said.

Settles really enjoyed walking on the Great Wall of China.

“I never thought I would do that,” she said.

Members of the media, Settles explained, do not stay in the Olympic Village with the athletes. Instead they either stay in a media village or a hotel. Since days off are few and far between for Settles during an Olympics, she will “forego some sleep” to actually see the country.

“I like to see things the country is famous for, be it museums or architectural things. I like to wander through the neighborhoods to see what life is really like and try the local food,” she said.

While she’s at the Olympics she will try to find some interesting souvenirs.

“I’m picky. I like to get things that are unique to the country,” she said. “When I was in Australia I bought a lot of Aboriginie prints because you’re not going to find Aboriginie prints very often in the United States.

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London don’t start for another week, but Kansas Citian Roshann Parris is already there leading the U.S. presidential delegation Olympics coordinating team that will manage all aspects of first lady Michelle Obama’s visit.

Parris said the first lady’s visit include representing the United States at the Opening Ceremony, meeting with U.S. athletes competing in London, and through the first lady’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, joining with the delegation to encourage kids to be active in their daily lives.

“The USOC and national governing bodies have committed to providing free or low-cost athletic programming to more than 1.7 million American kids in 2012, as part of this ‘Let’s Move’ effort,” Parris said.

Parris, president and CEO of Parris Communications, a Kansas City-based public relations and marketing communications firm she founded in 1988, has been coordinating events on a presidential scale for almost 30 years. Her first such experience was in 1984 when she joined the advance staff of vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro on the Mondale-Ferraro presidential campaign. During the Clinton administration she accompanied the president and first lady to more than 50 countries.

She has been working with the Obamas since the summer of 2008, when she led a team to Europe to coordinate then-Sen. Barack Obama’s first overseas trip. Since that time, she has served the White House in several capacities, including coordination of the president and first lady’s recent visits to the NATO Summit in Strasbourg, France, Baden-Baden, Germany, and Moscow.

Sometimes uncontrolled anger in children and teens can lead to the one event that parents, teachers, doctors and friends cannot fix — suicide. Lynn Kaufman, who has a master’s degree in social work, has devoted the last 22 years helping children and families talk about their anger, become aware of their angry moods, recognize oncoming anger signs and control their angry behaviors.

“I found the issues around families and children very interesting,” said Kaufman. “I am interested in how relationships among people work. I am interested in children and families learning to control their anger and express it in positive and constructive ways. I am interested in people in a family understanding each other’s anger so that each member of the family has ways to be known and understood.”

This interest first brought her to KVC Behavioral Health Care in Wyandotte County in 1990. The focus of the treatment center was “anger control.” Although the social workers were following a program on anger control developed by Arnold Goldstein, Ph.D., Kaufman decided that something more was needed.

“I decided that children would benefit from a tool that would help them identify their angry moods and escalating anger,” she said. “I developed the Grump Meter and immediately saw how children used it and how it helped them identify their anger and put words and new thoughts to their angry moods.”

She then started using the Grump Meter to teach anger control to families. Families were encouraged to acknowledge anger, frustration and fear connected to aggressive and destructive behaviors.

“To my surprise,” she added, “the parents loved the tool and wanted to use it with their children.”

The Grump Meter can be any size. It is basically a ruler with five categories, blue for calm; green for grumpy; yellow for caution; orange for stop; and red for explosion.

The tool became so helpful that Kaufman and her daughter, Janet Kaufman, Ph.D. decided to write a book.  “The Grump Meter, A Family Tool for Anger Control,” so that many more families could use the techniques to help negotiate and manage their expression of strong feelings in new ways.

“I recognized immediately that the color and the simplicity of the book were very helpful to family understanding of anxiety, sorrow, grief, loss and anger,” said Kaufman. “The children were able to see from colors how they changed feelings during one day. This helped them be aware of where they were on the Grump Meter and to reach the goal of coming back to blue. The goal of the grump meter is to have a blue day and to avoid the ride to red.”

Besides helping children and their parents know where a child is on the Grump Meter, the book also provides ways to bring a child down from the danger zones of orange and red, and move back to the calmer green and blue zones.

Others are also aware of the impact Kaufman has made on the children in Kansas. In April she was honored by the University of Kansas as the 2012 Outstanding KU Social Work Alumna. In her nomination of Kaufman, Hildy Flanigan stated:

“In 2004, KVC opened a licensed hospital for preteens and teens. Lynn was the first social worker on that unit. Most of the children admitted to the hospital came with suicide ideation and/or attempts to end their lives. To help children find the language to understand their own life stories and find reasons to live instead of die, and to help them find language and their own creativity and courage, Lynn turned to literature, writing, group process family dialogue and behavioral approaches, including anger control.”

Kaufman said that 99 percent of children that she sees come in following suicide thoughts, feelings and actions.

“When shown the Grump Meter, they immediately point to red — the area of the most anger. They identify ‘red’ as the mood they were in when they attempted to end their lives,” said Kaufman. “Once they started to drop to orange and yellow and green, they have no thoughts of suicide. That change can take place within hours of admission to the hospital where the ‘work’ begins.”

“What is in their minds when they want to kill themselves?” Kaufman asks. “Why is this day different from all other days?’ The answer is that every child has an answer to the question and describes an issue or a story or a crisis that they cannot solve. They feel hopeless to find answers and in those moments, they see no other way to solve their problems. Once they see options and consider new thoughts, their need to die is decreased. Every single child who survives an attempt to end their lives is glad they are alive.”

Besides her work at KVC, Kaufman has also been an adjunct instructor for the KU School of Social Work and has been a field instructor for students for many years.

She and her husband, Andrew Kaufman, M.D. belong to The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah. They are the parents of two daughters and four grandchildren. Two of the grandchildren also contributed to the book with the illustrations: Rachel and Jonah.

The “Grump Meter” is available from Amazon and from Kaufman’s website: www.grumpmeter.com.

MITZVAH GARDEN ON TV — The Mitzvah Garden was featured on 41 Action News Tuesday, July 10. The crops looked pretty sad, but despite the dry conditions and heat, co-chairs Larry Lehman, Ken Sonnenschein and Andrew Kaplan say they are still harvesting loads of produce. To see the TV news report, visit https://scripps.endplay.com/web/kshb/dpp/news/region_kansas/overland_park/bnai-jehudah-jewish-temple-feeds-the-needy-with-vegetable-garden.

THEATRE IN THE PARK PRESENTS ‘URINETOWN’ — Our own Ruth Baum Bigus will be featured as Josephine Strong/Old Woman in Theatre in the Park’s presentation of “Urinetown.” The musical, which is rated PG, runs July 20-22 and July 26-29. Show time is 8:30 p.m.; gates open at 7:30 p.m. The “Urinetown” company and Bob Hamilton have teamed up to help others beyond the footlights with a toilet paper drive. Theatre patrons are asked to bring a four-pack of toilet paper to the Bob Hamilton table and in return, they will receive a small token of thanks. All of the toilet paper will be donated to the non-profit organization Giving the Basics that will be distributed throughout the metro area to those in need of basic dignity products.

ALL-STAR WRAP-UP — I’m sure many members of the Jewish community were excited by the many Major League Baseball All-Star Game activities held here last week. Ellen Wolf, executive assistant to the head of school at HBHA, was one of the lucky ones to be chosen as an official volunteer and had the chance to actually stand on the field at Kauffman Stadium and help out the television crew during a game-day rehearsal. A St. Louis native and a lifelong Cardinals fan, she served as the stand-in for former manager Tony La Russa. Ellen described it this way: “With the All-Star Game intro music playing and the (pre-recorded) voice of Joe Buck announcing the All-Star lineup, the MLB director tapped my shoulder. I climbed the steps out of the National League dugout, onto the dirt and over the grass toward home plate. I was introduced as the manager of the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals. In a few hours, Tony would walk this same path — his last official walk onto the field as a professional manager. I’m telling you, when the FOX Sports music began and the ceremony started, I got goosebumps, and a little teary-eyed.” As part of the rehearsal, her “punim” (face) was shown on the Crown Vision Scoreboard. She is now officially a member of the MLB All-Star Game Week Volunteer Alumni, making her eligible to volunteer at future All-Star games in other cities.

JVS KICKS OFF SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE — Now is your chance to help refugee children have the best start to the upcoming school year. JVS will be collecting school supplies at the JVS office at 1608 Baltimore, Kansas City, MO 64108 and at the Jewish Community Campus from now until Thursday, Aug. 9. Collection barrels will be placed in the lobbies at both locations. Take advantage of Missouri’s tax-free weekend on Aug. 3-5 to buy lots of school supplies and make a difference in the life of a child! The following items are needed: backpacks, pencils, pens, notebooks, pencil sharpeners, glue, markers, scissors, rulers, pencil bags, crayons and erasers. Questions about this school supply drive may be directed to Martin Okpareke at 816-471-2808 ext. 1117 or .