Compiled by Sharon Wisch-Ray
sharon@tjpnews.com

Dallas Women’s Foundation Recognizes Women for Leadership and Service Impacting Lives of Women, Girls

Rabbi Nancy Kasten is one of five recipients of the Dallas Women’s Foundation 2016 Maura Women Helping Women Award. The award recognizes leaders who have positively impacted the lives of women and girls in the North Texas area.
Award recipients will be honored at the Leadership Forum and Awards Dinner, presented by AT&T on April 21. The dinner, co-chaired by Margaret Jordan and Debbie Taylor, includes presentation of the Maura Award and presentation of the Young Leader Award by Capital One. The evening also features keynote speaker Anne-Marie Slaughter, president and CEO of New America.
Slaughter’s recently released book, Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family, outlines a new vision for work-life balance, and an action plan for achieving true equality between men and women.
“The Leadership Forum recognizes outstanding leaders who blazed the trail for women in their industries and communities,” said Roslyn Dawson Thompson, Foundation president and chief executive officer.
“These leaders have faced great challenges in their lives and careers, and yet dedicated themselves to creating more opportunities for women and girls to achieve and succeed. It takes courage and a commitment to advance change for women to get in and stay in the leadership pipeline. We are proud to elevate the striking examples our award winners represent, along with the critical insights Anne-Marie Slaughter offers, to illuminate ways to broaden pathways to opportunity and build new work cultures that strengthen women, families and communities.”
For 37 years, the Maura Women Helping Women Award has honored courageous women and men who have catalyzed change for women and girls in North Texas. The 2016 Maura recipients will join the esteemed company of more than 190 previous honorees.
Ordained as a Reform rabbi in 1990, Kasten inspires women to fulfill the Jewish mandate to repair the world and to share their blessings with others who are less fortunate. She is a powerful voice for economic justice, women’s equality and support for women and families, including adequate, affordable and accessible health care; education; economic justice; and religious freedom. She is the wife of Temple Emanu-El Senior Rabbi David Stern and the mother of three.
In addition to Rabbi Kasten, this year’s recipients are: Diana C. Dutton, Vicki Meek, Katie Pedigo and Billie Bryant Schultz.
The Dallas Women’s Foundation’s Young Leader Awards, presented by Capital One, will also be given at the dinner. The Young Leader Award was established in 2013 to recognize breakthrough leadership exhibited by a woman under the age of 40 who is achieving success in a field, initiative or sector, and creating a path of opportunity for other women to follow.
This year’s recipients are: Brittany K. Byrd and Lacy L. Durham, Esq.

— Submitted by Meredith McKee

Daughters of WWII

The Daughters of WWII will hold its Fifth Annual Celebration of V-E Day from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, April 17 at the President George Bush Library.
Keynote speaker for the event will be Auschwitz survivor, Eva Mozes Kor. The Jack Altman Humanitarian Award will be presented to Jack Repp, Holocaust survivor; Lt. Col. Charles Alford, liberator of Buchenwald; and Lt. Col. Maggie Magelles, liberator of Wobbelin, Ludwigslut.
The event honors “The Next Generation: Carrying the Torch — Three Generations of the Max Glauben Family.”
Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor is a well-known forgiveness advocate and public speaker. She and her twin sister Miriam were among Dr. Josef Mengele’s twin experiments, used as human guinea pigs in genetic experiments. In addition to her many nationwide speaking engagements, Kor speaks at 1 p.m. every Saturday she is in town at the CANDLES (an acronym for Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors) Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana.
World War II veterans and lifetime members are free; however, they must register. Guests and escort(s) are $36 per person. Registration and tickets are available at www.daughtersofww2.org.
Community partners for the event are Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance, American Jewish Congress and CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

Berman, Mondell among SMU’s 2016 Profiles in Leadership Award Recipients

Award-winning filmmaker Cynthia Salzman Mondell and Lyn Berman, executive director and founder of Attitudes and Attire, were among five recent recipients of SMU’s 2016 Profiles in Leadership Awards. The Profiles in Leadership Awards were initiated in 2000 during the 35th Annual Women’s Symposium. Their purpose is to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women who have made a significant impact on the city of Dallas and on the quality of life for women overall.
Cynthia Salzman Mondell believes that films can make a difference in people’s lives. She has partnered with Allen Mondell for most of her work.
Together they have made over 40 films including the six films about the life, death and legacy of President John F. Kennedy for the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza; Sisters of ’77, the story about how a government-funded women’s political conference set the agenda for the second wave of feminism with Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and Ann Richards; and Dreams of Equality for the Women’s National Historical Park.
She is currently working on the Sole Sisters film project that explores women’s identity told through their relationship with their shoes. It includes a film, a community art and writing project in the Dallas County Jail and a play Sole Sisters. She has won two Lone Star Emmys and was honored with Women in Film’s Topaz Achievement Award. She also received the national Women In Film and Television Gracie award. She is one of the founders and past president of Women In Film–Dallas; is past president of the board of New Day Films, a nationally known independent film cooperative; and was an artist-in-residence at the University of Texas at Dallas.
She is part of Leadership America, Leadership Texas, the Dallas Summit and Women In Film, Texas Jewish Historical Society. She is most proud of how her films, and now her play, touch people’s lives.
With $500 of her own money, Lyn Berman founded Attitudes and Attire in 1996 on the premise that it was important to build women’s self-esteem as they prepared to enter the workforce. Initially, Attitudes and Attire provided work-appropriate clothing for women in need.
Today, it has expanded its programming to include job training and workshops that focus on personal worth, effective communication skills and work ethics. Since 1996, Attitudes and Attire has served more than 20,000 clients.
“Over our two decades, we have aimed to empower women from all walks of life, and most recently we created a customized curriculum to assist female veterans as they make the transition to civilian life,” the organization’s website states.
Joining Berman and Mondell as this year’s award recipients were Roslyn Dawson Thompson, president and CEO of Dallas Women’s Foundation; M’Lou Bancroft, founder and president of Honduras Threads; and Carol Donovan, chair of the Dallas County Democratic Party. Katie Pedigo, executive director of New Friends for Life, received the Gail Reese Ward Excellence in Mentoring Award.