In fact, she said, six generations of women in her family have been or are active in Hadassah — her daughter is participating in this year’s Hadassah Leadership Academy (HLA), a training program in Chicago — and three of her five grandchildren were born at Hadassah University Hospital in Israel.
Yet the Milwaukee chapter has only since 2006 been a member of the national organization’s Great Plains Region, which includes Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, the Chicago suburbs, and parts of Michigan and Iowa.
The Milwaukee group joined at a suggestion from the organization’s national level, which “felt that such a small region would benefit from being part of a larger region,” Eglash said.
“Our members felt this was a very good decision to meet women from a larger area and be able to network better,” she added.
This year, the Milwaukee group will host the 2008 Great Plains Region conference, which will take place at the at the Four Points by Sheraton Milwaukee North in Brown Deer on the weekend of May 3-5.
“Because we were new to the region,” said Eglash, “many of the [women from the region] thought that they would like to see what the women of Milwaukee and the community were like, and asked if we would host the conference. Of course, we said yes!”
To commemorate Israel’s birthday, the conference will serve a birthday cake with Israeli flags on it and has created table centerpieces using the New York Times commemorative newspaper from May 15, 1948.
As part of the weekend, the group will also attend the Milwaukee community Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) event at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center on Sunday, May 4.
During the conference, participants will listen to presentations by speakers including:
• Tim Crain, Ph.D., of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who will speak on Zionism;
• Dale Liebson Mintz, co-author of “The Hadassah Jewish Family Book of Health and Wellness”;
• David Gutterman, M.D., cardiologist and senior associate dean for research at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who will speak on “Israel: the World’s Technological Superpower”;
• Ralph Schapira, M.D., a physician-professor and vice-chair of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who will speak on “Lessons on Emergency Medicine from Hadassah.”
The conference will also include discussion sessions on education; children and the future; medicine and health; the environment; fundraising; the Hadassah Medical Organization; and the new Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower, the new medical center slated to be built in Jerusalem.
Hadassah is the “largest volunteer organization and the largest women’s organization in America,” according to its Web site.
It supports health, education, youth and environmental projects in Israel. The organization maintains the Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, which includes hospitals, schools, research facilities, and more.
The 1,200-member Milwaukee chapter is divided into smaller groups according to different interests, said Eglash.
“Hadassah is for everyone and age doesn’t make a difference,” Eglash said. “Hadassah has something for women of all ages, from 1 through 121.”
For more information about Hadassah or the coming conference, contact the Milwaukee chapter office, 6270 N. Port Washington Rd., #204, Milwaukee, WI, 53217; 414-332-4800.
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