By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent
While the Seattle Hebrew Academy has put a lot of effort into thanking people for supporting its future, the school will now take some time to give thanks to those who have helped it in the recent past.
Four synagogues have given SHA assistance in the three years since the Nisqually earthquake rendered its 1906 vintage Capitol Hill home uninhabitable. Congregations Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, Sephardic Bikur Holim, Ezra Bessaroth and Herzl-Ner Tamid offered its classrooms and use of its facilities while the academy searched for ways to house its preschool through seventh-grade students.
Because of their assistance, SHA will be honoring these four synagogues at its annual gala and auction on March 28. The event, to be held at the Fairmont Olympic hotel in downtown Seattle, will feature renowned auctioneer Kip Toner, and include items such as a stay in a Tuscan villa and an air combat mission — the real thing, not a simulator. The winner will actually train and dogfight in the air near Seattle.
Of the synagogues being honored, one stands out because of its religious affiliation: Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation is the only one of the four that is not an Orthodox synagogue. Though Seattle Hebrew Academy is an Orthodox institution, Herzl-Ner Tamid offered its classrooms, which were shared with its own religious school, to SHA students for the remainder of the school year after the earthquake.
Joyce Bloch Phillips will be honored as SHA Parent Volunteer of the Year. Phillips coordinated the capital campaign that is being used to retrofit and renovate the school building.
To make reservations to attend the SHA gala, please contact Marc Maislen at 206-323-5750, ext. 239 or visit www.seattlehebrewacademy.org.
While the Seattle Hebrew Academy is celebrating its past, another school, the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle is looking forward.
On March 21, this school will honor four of its greatest supporters with a gala themed “Hats Off to the Future.” Amy and David Fulton, and Amy’s parents Norman and Isabella Chapman, have all given much of their time and experience to the school — Amy through helping in her two boys’ classrooms and on field trips, as well as her heavy involvement on several board committees and as secretary; David through his civic involvement; Isabella through her commitment to Hadassah women’s organization; and Norman, through his position as treasurer of the school board and on several finance committees. They have all worked hard to enhance the experience for students and their families at the school.
Norman was profiled in the Transcript in December for his work in collecting and sending thousands of children’s books to underserved schools in Israel.
JDS hopes to raise several thousand dollars to help fund several priorities, which include curriculum development, tuition assistance, technology, and safety. They also hope to be able to purchase a mini-bus to take the students to sporting meets, on field trips, and expand the amount of activities from their Bellevue campus.
Some of the items to be auctioned off include trips to various vacation spots around the country, performance race car training, and a private performance by a world-renowned violinist, as well as a football signed by two-time Super Bowl champion Kurt Warner.
To attend this fundraiser, contact Susy Saarinen at 425-460-0242 or [email protected]. The event takes place on Sun., March 21, from 4–8:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in downtown Seattle. Joe Michaels from KING-5’s “Evening Magazine” will emcee the event.