$464,590 raised for Ukraine relief
The Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s portion of the Jewish Federations of North America’s Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund has raised $464,590 from 597 gifts.
The estimated 200,000 Jews living in Ukraine have been profoundly affected by the political and economic instability that have wracked the country, according to Milwaukee Jewish Federation. Federations are planning to allocate millions of dollars to our partner agencies on the ground
Gifts can be made at MilwaukeeJewish.org/Ukraine.
Nominees Sought for Friebert award
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Milwaukee Jewish Federation is seeking nominees for its annual Robert H. Friebert Social Justice Award.
The award will be given to an individual who has demonstrated leadership, courage and compassion as a social justice advocate, while working to eliminate discrimination and injustice in the greater Milwaukee area. Nominees’ professional and personal contributions to social justice will be considered. Previous honorees are James H. Hall, Danae Davis, José A. Olivieri, Reggie Jackson and Fran Kaplan, and Anita Johnson.
The honoree will be recognized at the JCRC’s Annual Meeting on June 16, 2022. Nomination forms can be found online at MilwaukeeJewish.org/Friebert. The deadline for submission is April 11, 2022.
This award was created in memory of prominent Milwaukee attorney and activist, Robert H. Friebert. He was driven to pursue social justice through the law and public service, and he believed deeply that everyone deserves equal social, economic and political rights. Founded in 1938, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the public affairs arm of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, advocates for the rights and values of Jews individually and collectively, here and abroad.
Lux Center honors Thering, friend to the Jewish people
The Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies will sponsor the Sister Rose Thering Award Dinner on May 19 at 6 p.m. at the Boerner Botanical Gardens. The Sister Rose Thering Award is given to individuals who demonstrate a lifelong dedication to furthering interreligious relations.
The award is a tribute to Sister Rose Thering, a Roman Catholic nun from Racine. Throughout her lifetime, Thering worked to educate new generations about the evils of the Holocaust and to rid Catholic textbooks of anti-Jewish sentiments.
Rabbi Ronald Shapiro and Rev. David Cooper will be honored at the award dinner. To attend or pay tribute to the honorees, visit the Lux Center website at Shsst.edu/Lux-Events.
-Sofia Rubinson
Sarah Hwang invites you to Walk MS
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Walk MS will be hosting an in-person walk-a-thon in Milwaukee on May 1 through the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Sarah Hwang, a Milwaukee resident who was diagnosed with MS in 1999, encourages community members to join her team, Hwang’s Wok-ers, or to start their own.
“All of these funds go to the MS society for research, for programming, and people living with MS truly can feel the impact every single day from the donations that people are giving,” Hwang said.
In prior years, Hwang has held a fundraising event called “Wok Hard to Fight MS,” which would feature a Chinese pop-up restaurant hosted at Congregation Sinai. Though the continued risk of COVID-19 and personal challenges have prevented this fundraising event from occurring this year, Hwang hopes to fundraise $10,000 through donations to her team and has already raised more than $6,000.
“Finding a cure is so important and the treatments that are out there that help prevent progression are important,” Hwang said. “The programs that the MS society provides people so they can live really full lives is also so important.”
The walk will take place at the Summerfest Grounds, South Gate. The site opens at 8 a.m. and the walk begins at 10 a.m. Community members can sign up for a team or donate at WalkMS.org.
-Sofia Rubinson
New grassroots fund to assist refugees
Linda Frank and other community members started a grassroots fund for the Jewish community’s refugee resettlement efforts in mid-March. The fund is held at the Jewish Community Foundation of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, though it is not a Federation fund.
“It is for the benefit of people and groups in the community who are helping resettle refugees. A lot of people are taking them grocery shopping and them buying things, and we’d like to be able to compensate people,” Frank said. “We don’t want them to feel that they have to donate everything they are doing along with their time, because some of these expenses have added up.”
Community members can donate to the fund through checks to the Jewish Community Foundation with a notation for the Refugee Fund or at MilwaukeeJewish.org/FundGift. People can send requests for payment to Frank and Reenie Kavalar at WisconsinJewsForRefugees@gmail.com.
-Sofia Rubinson
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