Alton Silver BBG holds spring term elections
On Jan. 23, Alton Silver BBG of Fort Worth held its elections for the spring term executive board. Dorie Kaye was elected as N’siah (president), Sarah Alpert as S’ganit (vice president), Bree Goodman as MIT Mom (membership), Lizzy Michan as Sh’licha (Judaism and community service), Courtney Smith as Mazkirah (secretary), Alyson Luskey as Gizborit (treasurer) and Carli Clay as Orechet (historian).
Alton Silver is currently recruiting girls in grades eight through 12. On Sunday, Feb. 13, the girls are hosting an ‘80s-themed roller-skating party. All Jewish girls and boys in Fort Worth in grades eight through 12 are invited. The group will meet at Congregation Ahavath Sholom basketball courts at 1:30 p.m. and head over to Rollerland West for skating at 2 p.m. There will be ice cream afterward at the Marble Slab on Hulen Street and Bellaire. For more information about the skating party, please contact Sarah Alpert at 682-351-8144.
Alton Silver BBG is a part of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, a worldwide Jewish youth group that promotes leadership, community service and Jewish identity.
Inaugural Young Adult event is a big success
The Young Adult Group convened its first-ever program on Jan. 29 at Main Event in Fort Worth. Close to 100 adults ate, drank, bowled, laser-tagged, shot pool, played poker and blackjack and shmoozed for over four hours on Saturday night. Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, this program was planned in response to needs that surfaced from the Federation’s Strategic Plan and specifically by the Young Adult Outreach Committee. All of the evening’s activities were complimentary, including child care. Chaired by Federation Board Members Melissa Morgan and Shayne Moses, the committee included young adults from all over Tarrant County: Alyson and Blake Halpern, Aaron and Lauren Moses, Jennifer Siegel, Suzie Kuptsin, Marianna Kisin, Mikhail Kisin, Jennifer Levi, Katrina Diaz, and Amy Hamilton. Participants took part in several raffle drawings for prizes that were generously donated by local businesses and individuals. The prizes included a $100 Grace gift card, a $25 Terra gift card and a $25 Movie Tavern gift card (donated by Dr. Carole Rogers), a Reata cookbook, a $50 Reata gift card, a $40 Spiral Diner gift card, a $25 Luskey’s gift card, Stockyards Championship Rodeo box seats, Starbucks coffee and mugs, coupons for P.F. Chang’s, Main Event bowling certificates and $5 Jamba Juice gift cards. And everyone walked away with a $10 Main Event arcade card. Twenty young children were cared for by Adventure Kids Playcare and got to play games, eat pizza and snacks, and bowl. A fun time was had by all!
According to a survey that the adults filled out, the attendees were thankful for the event, thought it was well-attended, loved the child care and would like to see more events for this group. For many new to the area, it was the first event they had attended in the Tarrant County Jewish community; others are long-term residents. The committee will analyze the survey results more closely and plan events such as seasonal parties, a get-together at a brewery and group attendance at concerts, theater performances and professional sporting events.
If you know of a young adult who is interested in participating in this group, please have them e-mail Mona Karten at m.karten@tarrantfederation.org. For photos of this event and news of upcoming events, check the Young Adult Group’s Facebook page: Jewish Federation of Tarrant County Young Adult Group.
Yiddish book project in the works
Some time ago regular TJP contributor and good friend Corrine Jacobson alerted us to a Yiddish book project. The Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., is collecting books for its library. Donating Yiddish and other Jewish books is simple, it’s easy, it’s tax-deductible — and best of all it’s a mitzvah! Just e-mail the YBC at bookdonations@bikher.org, or phone them at 413-256-4900, ext. 153. Depending on where you live and how many books you have, YBC will dispatch a zamler (a local, volunteer collector), or tell you how to pack and ship them yourself.
YBC accepts donations of Yiddish books of all sorts, regardless of title or condition (provided they’re not farshimlt — covered with visible mold). They also accept all titles in Ladino; modern Jewish literature and scholarly works in English and possibly other languages (call first). YBC cannot accept siddurim (prayer books) and machzorim (High Holy Day prayer books); Biblical texts, Talmud and other religious books in Hebrew; Hebrew school primers and textbooks; or Modern Hebrew literature.
By the way, if you have a second, visit their Web site at yiddishbookcenter.org. The Yiddish Book Center offers online access, free of charge, to the full texts of nearly 11,000 out-of-print Yiddish titles. The books were scanned under the auspices of the Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library, and are made available online through the Internet Archive.
More from the editor’s desk
For years both Rene and Jimmy worked tirelessly. One of their missions was to clean their desk (never happened). As I’ve resolved to improve upon this apparently genetic trait of the messiest desk ever, I recently found this item sent in by the Gerricks — my apologies to them for not getting it into the TJP in a more timely manner.
Rebecca and Jessica Gerrick have both received their Registered Nurse (RN) degrees within the last year. Rebecca has an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and is currently employed by Las Colinas Hospital in Irving.
Jessica is working in Chicago at the Illinois Masonic Hospital and is attending Loyola University, working on two master’s degree programs to further her education to obtain a Nurse Practitioner certification. She has her bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas.
Kol HaKavod to parents Mark Gerrick of Fort Worth and Carol Gerrick of Dallas and also to grandparents Joyce and Jack Gerrick of Fort Worth and Sandy and Sam Mandlebaum of Dallas. Those are two smart Gerrick cookies!
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