What’s Nu? January 2017 | Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

What’s Nu? January 2017

New vice president of development at Jewish Family Services

MILWAUKEE – Donna Triplett is the new vice president of development and communications at Jewish Family Services.

She is the chief strategist for all fund development, marketing and communication activities to support Jewish Family Services’ mission of providing accessible behavioral health services, exceptional needs case management, affordable housing and other support services to individuals and families in the greater Milwaukee area.

She has been a certified fundraising executive since 2008 and has raised millions of dollars to support nonprofit organizations over the past 16 years. She has nearly 30 years of career experience in the nonprofit sector, including work in healthcare, disability support services, case management, guardianship, crisis intervention, HUD subsidized housing, advocacy and youth mentoring.

Triplett is a Milwaukee native and earned a bachelor of arts degree in criminology and law studies from Marquette University.

Scholarships for camp, college and Israel programs

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Jewish Federation has several grant and scholarship opportunities:

  • One Happy Camper provides grants up to $1,000 for first-time campers at Jewish overnight camps.
  • Scholarships available for Jewish overnight camps and summer Israel programs for young people.
  • Semester or year in Israel for greater Milwaukee residents ages 18-29 from the Sarah B. and Louis M. Kesselman Israel Program Scholarship Fund.
  • Hecht Family Memorial College Scholarship Fund to outstanding Jewish high school seniors to help fund the college freshman year.

Learn more at MilwaukeeJewish.org/Scholarships.

Nominate a Jewish educator

MILWAUKEE – The Coalition for Jewish Learning of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation encourages the community to submit nominations by Jan. 9, 2017 for:

Fill out nomination forms at MilwaukeeJewish.org/CJL or contact Tziporah Altman-Shafer at TziporahA@MilwaukeeJewish.org or call 414-963-2718. Award winners will be recognized at the annual Salute to Jewish Educators on Feb. 26, 2017.

Wisconsin author releases Holocaust book

SHOREWOOD – Milwaukee-area resident David Weiss has published his fourth book, “Holocaust Underground,” a transcript of interviews with his grandparents in Shorewood.

“My grandparents Tibor and Sarlota Weiss met while hiding during the Holocaust. It was not, however, a story book romance,” Weiss said in a news release. “Both survivors had already weathered over four years of torture and seen their loved ones deported to certain death. Their prospects for survival were slim and getting more and more narrow every day. But their will to ‘survive and then thrive’ could not be extinguished.”

They were resilient, lucky, resourceful and determined, he said. Finally, they were liberated and allowed to leave the 8’ x 8’ cellar closet of the German doctor who hid them.

Weiss is a former elementary school teacher who now teaches at the college level.

Published by Holocaust Legacy Books and Expert Promotions LLC, the book is available at HolocaustLegacyBooks.com and Amazon.com.

Jewish life classes in Waukesha

WAUKESHA – Cantor Deborah Martin, the Spiritual Leader at Congregation Emanu-El of Waukesha, will lead Jewish life classes once a month for four months at CEEW.

Classes will be held Sundays from 9:30 to 11 a.m. The first class will be held Jan. 8, when major and minor Jewish holidays will be discussed, including the variety of Jewish food associated with each holiday.

The basics of Jewish life, including the calendar, philosophy, symbols and clothing, will be discussed Feb. 5. The March 5 class will be dedicated to lifecycle events, while the last class, April 2, will look into Jewish prayer, ritual, customs and home lifestyle.

The classes are open to the public. There is a $5 charge for non-CEEW members. For more information, contact Cantor Martin at SpiritualLeader@WaukeshaTemple.org or 262-547-7180.

Trish Cohn named executive director of Chai Point

MILWAUKEE – Trish Cohn, a veteran of Chai Point Senior Living as its longtime program director, has been named its executive director.

She started Monday, Dec. 5 after serving in an interim director role for four weeks. She’d previously served as program director for 20 years.

She said she is excited to lead “this incredible, warm, hamish place.”

“I have the best team,” she said, adding that for residents she seeks to “provide that quality of care for them and to keep changing and keep evolving.”

Previously, Debbie Rosenthal Zemel, whom Cohn considers a mentor, was executive director for 12 years.

“I started two years after Chai Point started,” Cohn said. “We were two years into the community so I got to create something. It has been the best – the best career anybody could have.”

Cohn said that Chai Point has about 100 residents and about 100 programs per month. It kept her busy as program director and at present, while searching for a new program director, she’s filling both the executive director and program director roles.

“I will miss it because it was just such a joy and it was so creative. I’m still going to dance every day and I’m still going to sing every day. I’m still going to spread sunshine around,” she said. “To me, maintaining a positive attitude, it is so important to pass that positivity on.”

“This to me is one of the finest places that you can come to. Our whole campus provides such great quality of service,” she said. “We strive to be the best. We really, really love the residents. We’re working hard at giving them the best quality of care.”

“It’s a warm environment. This is their home. I work in their home.”

Chai Point Senior Living is at 1400 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee.

Free dental services for Holocaust survivors

MILWAUKEE – The Alpha Omega-Henry Schein Cares Holocaust Survivors Oral Health Program is accepting applications for free dental work to Holocaust survivors in the greater Milwaukee area. Since 2015, the program has provided hundreds of Holocaust survivors across the United States with free oral care.

Applicants must be recognized by Claims Conference as being a Holocaust survivor and meet certain financial and eligibility requirements. Priority is given to eligible persons based on the need to eliminate painful oral conditions, restoration of function and lack of dental insurance coverage.

For more information, contact Jewish Family Services’ Holocaust Services Department at 414-390-5800.