By Diana Brement,
JTNews Columnist
The Foundation for Jewish Camp wants your middle schooler to go to Jewish camp!
To that end, they’ve started the JWest program to provide incentives for kids to attend one of the 20 independent, non-profit Jewish residential camps in the western U.S.
Seattle’s Michele Yanow has been appointed “program ambassador” in Seattle, tasked with rooting out first-time Jewish campers in grades 6 to 8 who are not enrolled in a Jewish day school.
Studies, Michele points out, have shown that attending Jewish camp is one of the best indicators of future adult Jewish involvement.
“Camp was shown to be one of the highest predictors,” she says, “even higher than family synagogue membership.”
Michele’s biggest challenge is to reach out to the unaffiliated Jewish community, thought to be quite large in our area. The foundation, she says, “saw there weren’t as many campers as they felt there was a potential for” at Northwest Jewish camps. They also wanted attract people outside the “Jewish communal box.” Michele is making sure synagogues have information, “but I’ve also been trying to get posters up in places like Jewish doctors’ offices and talking to secular middle school principals…calling girl scout and boy scout leaders, soccer coaches,” and more.
Scholarships of up to $1,800 are offered for first-time campers and money is available to those who return a second year as well. The awards are not need-based.
As director of the literary organization Nextbook in Seattle from 2003 to 2008, Michele became very familiar with outreach, making her “a slam dunk” for this camp recruitment job.
“Combined with the fact that I’m a parent now” — with two kids under age 5 — “and I’m tuned into where kids with families go.”
The JWest job is seasonal and part-time, so Michele also has time for a new volunteer organization that she started last year, the Seattle Jewish Chorale.
“I wanted to do this for years and years and years,” she says of the singing group. A veteran of a variety of singing groups, including the Seattle Symphony chorale, she’s been a regular attendee at the North American Jewish Choral Festival, a “Jewish singing camp for grownups,” and always an inspiring experience.
After hiring Cantor Marina Belenky to play at a Nextbook event, she learned that Belenky was interested in conducting and wanted to be part of the project. Michele put together a board of five people, “and we just started it.” Six weeks later, she says, “we were singing at Bellevue Square.”
They’ve had a couple of community gigs this year, including Northwest Folklife, and are gearing up for a June 14 concert and fundraiser. For information on either program call 206-708-7518 or e-mail her at [email protected].
|||
Northwest Yeshiva High School alumna (class of 2006) and former JTNews intern Elisheva Goldberg was awarded a State Department Critical Language Scholarship to study Arabic in Alexandria, Egypt this summer. Elisheva is just finishing her sophomore year at University of Pennsylvania.
This prestigious fully funded scholarship for an immersion program in Arabic is part of the National Security Language Initiative, a U.S. government interagency effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critically needed foreign languages.
After this summer intensive, Elisheva will spend a semester in Rabat, Morocco.
|||
The American Bar Association Section of Taxation presented Stoel Rives attorney (and Elisheva’s grandfather) Irwin Treiger with its 2009 Distinguished Service Award at the ABA plenary meeting on May 9, recognizing Irwin for his “extraordinary professional accomplishments, his leadership and his community service.”
Irwin has long been active in the organized bar in a variety of positions. He’s also worked tirelessly to promote Seattle’s economic and cultural development, serving as chair of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Seattle Foundation, as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, and trustee of the Samis Foundation and Seattle Rotary.
As head of the King County Baseball Park Commission, Treiger helped secure the construction of Safeco Field, helping to keep the Mariners in Seattle. His efforts were honored when he threw the ceremonial first pitch at the park on his 70th birthday.
“A key measure of a law firm’s success is its legacy of professional excellence and community service,” said Bob Van Brocklin, managing partner of Stoel Rives. “For half a century, Irwin has exemplified these qualities to the highest standard. The [award] is altogether in keeping with the high esteem in which Irwin is held by his peers and the wider Seattle community. We’re proud of his contributions.”
Irwin is a graduate of the University of Washington and its School of Law, where he graduated first in his law school class and was editor-in-chief of its law review. He received his LL.M. in taxation from New York University, where he also graduated first in his class.