The Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley will present its annual awards and vote on nominees for its board of directors at its Community Celebration and Annual Meeting on June 8.
The event to celebrate the award winners, leaders and volunteers begins at 6 p.m. with an Israeli-style picnic. Attendance is free and all are invited to attend, thanks in part to sponsorship by the St. Luke’s University Health Network.
Rachel Levin will receive the George Feldman Award for Young Leadership. Levin has been a member of the Federation’s board of directors and of the Women’s Philanthropy division board. She led the division’s Dignity Grows initiative to fill and distribute tote bags full of essential supplies for women in need.
The Schiff Award for Prejudice Reduction will be presented to Fay Kun. After the death of her mother, Frieda Fried, in 2011, Kun became a Holocaust educator, teaching people about the unthinkable tragedy that became reality when prejudice was allowed to grow and spread. She has visited local schools and other sites to tell the story of her mother’s experience as a teenager surviving the concentration camps.
Aaron Gorodzinsky will get the Mark L. Goldstein Award for Jewish Communal Professionals, named in memory of the longtime executive director of the Jewish Federation. Gorodzinsky, the Federation’s director of campaign and security planning, has led the annual campaign and the Jewish Community Relations Council as well as managed the Maimonides Society of health-care professionals and other important Federation efforts.
The Federation’s current board of directors will vote on new nominees to join the board. The board nominating committee has recommended Bruce Reich, Vickie Semmel and Deborah Weiner for three-year terms as board members, and Robert J. Grey, Rita Scheller and Jean Weiner for one-year terms as honorary board members.
The officers nominating committee has recommended Robby Wax as president; Aliette Abo, Dr. Bill Markson and Dr. Israel Zighelboim as vice presidents; Beth Kozinn as secretary; Iris Epstein as treasurer; Vera Schiff as trustee; Ross Born as honorary president; Roberto Fischmann as honorary treasurer; and Leonard Abrams, Wendy Born, Daniel Cohen, Barnet Fraenkel, Murray Goodman and Robert Hammel as honorary vice presidents.