On Aug. 23rd, a group of past Benjamin E. Nickoll Young Leadership award winners came together for what was a “heartwarming and emotional” gathering, according to Henry “Pat” Kerns, chair of the Nickoll award committee.
Twenty-eight of the winners over the last 45 years shared personal stories of how they became active in the Milwaukee Jewish community, talking about their parents’ and, in some cases, their children’s involvement, said Kerns.
The gathering, called a caucus, also “set the pace for the 2006 Annual Campaign,” with many participants making their annual gift, said Rick Ruvin, who first came up with the idea for the caucus, and received the award in 2002.
Past award winners had previously only gathered to select the following year’s recipient. But when Ruvin proposed the idea of the caucus to the group, they “embraced” the idea, he said.
“We wanted to create a purpose for the group…. “We wanted continued good to come from our involvement” as well the opportunity to “strengthen the bond within the group.
“We care about one another,” Ruvin said, and “we care about the community.”
Held at Brynwood Country Club, the caucus had several functions, said Ruvin, among which were to “send a positive message to the community,” to “work together on important initiatives,” and also to “foster younger volunteers.”
“We have so many young, very capable people coming up in this community,” Kerns said, and “our main goal is to see that young leadership is involved. Young and older leaders like to be with each other,” he said, adding that the “younger look up to older leaders.”
Those relationships are part of what makes this group so interesting and effective, Ruvin said. “We want to make sure that new [award] recipients are mentored and encouraged to grow in terms of their commitment of time and dollars,” he said.
General campaign chair Marlene Lauwasser, who attended the caucus, said it “was one of the most energizing and exciting opportunities that I have ever been a part of.”
Though she admitted some “were skeptical when they walked in,” Lauwasser said by the end of the evening, there was “a lot of electricity in the room.”
The gathering “reinforced why [award winners] were there in the first place,” she added.
The caucus, which Ruvin hopes will become an annual event, also succeeded in bringing “an increase in overall giving to the campaign,” Ruvin said.
Ruvin hopes the group will have other opportunities to get together, and he said he “wants to inspire others to do the same thing we’re doing.”
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