Olga Vaynshtok, who now works at Jewish Family Services, remembers well that she and other immigrants from the former Soviet Union “needed help when we came here, and there were people here who helped us,” she told The Chronicle in a recent telephone interview. “I think we’re ready to give back.”
And give back is what she and other members of Milwaukee’s FSU Jewish community — who now comprise some 25 percent or more of Milwaukee-area Jewry — are planning to do on Saturday, Jan. 31, 6:30 p.m., at Brynwood Country Club.
The Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s New Americans Division, in cooperation with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society’s LOREO (Local Russian Émigré Organizations) Project, will hold a fund-raising dinner. This is a standard procedure for many charitable organizations here, but for this community it is the first event of its kind.
“It is like our coming-out party,” said Tanya Arbit, chair of the New Americans Division, Midwest regional coordinator for LOREO and one of the co-chairs of the event with Vaynshtok and Alex Satanovsky. “We are ready to take our place at the table of the organized Jewish community in Milwaukee. And we are coming together as a constituent part of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, to add our time, energy and resources.”
The proceeds will go to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation Israel Emergency Fund, to be used to help FSU immigrants in Israel who have been victims of terror attacks.
“All of us have relatives and friends who live in Israel,” said attorney Max Chester, a member of the event committee. “All of us follow events.”
To make a monetary contribution to these victims can “make lives somewhat better after what they’ve lived through” and be “our way to tell them they are not alone,” Chester said.
But the event also constitutes a statement that the Milwaukee-area’s FSU community is “big and powerful enough to have an event like that,” said event co-chair Satanovsky, vice president of a mortgage company.
In addition, the event is “about connecting our community to the big Jewish community of Milwaukee,” said Lee Morgulis, a computer programmer and a member of the committee for the event.
This community has become “not only more English-speaking, but American-speaking,” said Morgulis, who, with his brother, Ed, created the Project Contact Initiative Ltd., a month-old initiative whose mission is to “build a communication bridge” between the local Russian and greater Milwaukee communities. “We are part of this town and its ideas.”
Indeed, according to Richard H. Meyer, MJF executive vice president, “This event illustrates how important it is to our newest community members to give back and become involved in Jewish life here in Milwaukee following the support that they received when they first arrived.”
“I view this as one important step among many reflecting our commitment to outreach to this population and to their becoming active volunteer contributing members enhancing our community,” Meyer said.
The program will include remarks by Israel emissary to Milwaukee Alon Galron and greetings from (and, according to Arbit, a possible appearance by) Sen. Herb Kohl.
For more information, call Arbit, 414-390-5724.
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