Swipe Out Hunger helps college students
About one in five college students regularly skip meals, according to Swipe Out Hunger, an organization that is tackling food insecurity on campus. This number is growing as students are prioritizing other costs associated with college over food.
Swipe Out Hunger encourages college students to donate unused funds or “swipes” from their meal plans to food insecure peers. The program began in 2010 with a few friends as a college project at UCLA. Now 62 universities participate in the program, serving 1.6 million meals.
Rachel Sumekh, founder and CEO of Swipe Out Hunger, has been recognized by The Obama White House and The New York Times, and her work has landed her on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
Sumekh will be the featured speaker at the fifth Annual Edie Adelman Lecture on April 3 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Sinai, 8223 N. Port Washington Road in Fox Point. The lecture, which is free and open to all, is sponsored by Women’s Philanthropy and the Edie Adelman Political Awareness Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation. Register at MilwaukeeJewish.org/Edie.
Milwaukee Jewish Day School makes visit
Seven Milwaukee Jewish Day School students attended Songleader Boot Camp, the nation’s leading conference for Jewish music.
Most of the conference is geared toward adults and MJDS was one of three middle schools with students in attendance, according to Mara Kleiman, an MJDS Hebrew and Jewish studies teacher.
Breeanna Walker, Maya Graupe, Hanna Boland, Maddie Kranitz, Rebecca Sattler, Ethan King and Shayna Bilsky were the students in attendance.
In addition to strengthening Jewish identity, the students came back with ideas for projects to work on and new music and songs, Kleiman said.
The conference was Feb. 15-19.
Ovation seeks 7-12 year-old actors
Ovation Communities has put a call out for 7-12 year-old actresses and actors.
Students could be a part of a theater performance on March 31 at Ovation Sarah Chudnow and on April 7 at Ovation Chai Point, directed by Nancy Weiss-McQuide. No auditions required.
All that’s needed is a desire to be part of a fun activity with kids and seniors from around Milwaukee, according to Ovation Communities. Participation can also be considered as a bar or bat mitzvah project.
Rehearsals start Sunday, March 10 at 3:30 p.m., and continue on two subsequent Sundays at the same time. For more information contact Julie Shlensky, Posner Chair for intergenerational programming, 414-721-9253, JShlensky@ovation.org
Passover food drive starts March 24
MILWAUKEE – Food donations for the Community Passover Food Drive (Ma’ot Chittim) will be collected March 24 – April 7 at several collection sites, including Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center and local synagogues.
Products needed, which must have kosher certification for Passover: matzo, canned gefilte fish, chicken soup/matzo ball mix and grape juice. These basic items will then be supplemented with additional traditional Passover items. In 2018, the drive was able to serve 535 individuals and families.
Monetary contributions will be used to purchase food items. Send donations to: Community Passover Food Drive Project, 6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53217; make checks out to JCC Community Passover Food Drive Project.
This year’s Passover food distribution will be from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Sunday, April 14 at Ovation Jewish Home – Rubenstein Pavilion, 1410 N. Prospect Ave. For further details, contact Rabbi Shari Shamah at 414-967-8229 or SShamah@JCCmilwaukee.org.
For a complete list of collection sites, go to MilwaukeeJewish.org/PassoverFood.
The Community Passover Food Drive is a joint effort of: Coalition for Jewish Learning and Jewish Community Relations Council, programs of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation; Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center; Hillel Milwaukee; Jewish Community Pantry; Jewish Family Services; Kosher Meat Club; Ovation Jewish Home; Rabbi Scheinfeld Maos Chitim Fund; Salinsky Program to Feed the Hungry; Tikkun Ha-Ir of Milwaukee; and Wisconsin Council of Rabbis.
Bobblehead museum open
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum opened to the public on Feb. 1, co-founded by CEO Phil Sklar, a member of Congregation Shalom.
The Hall of Fame collection includes bobbleheads of many famous Jews, including Sandy Koufax, Albert Einstein and Mark Cuban. The museum is at 170 S. 1st St., second floor, in Milwaukee.
He and co-founder Brad Novak laid plans for months to display their collection of bobbleheads, including representations of athletes, entertainers and political figures.
Novak and Sklar started their collection in 2002, after Novak, who worked for the Rockford RiverHawks minor league baseball team, received a free bobblehead of the team’s mascot. He and Sklar then spent several years using their vacation days to travel around the country to baseball games with bobblehead giveaways. They went to 27 of 30 major league parks, Sklar said. Between the two of them, they would get two bobbleheads, keep one and trade the other, often going online to do the trade, he said. The two also started foraging for figurines at Goodwill.
Once word got out about the museum, Sklar said people started to donate figurines. One man from Cleveland, Robert Manak, donated over 1,500 bobbleheads to the museum before he died in 2015. Others sold their bobbleheads to the museum at reduced prices.
Contact the museum at 800-414-1482 or info@BobbleHeadHall.com. Or visit BobbleHeadHall.com.