JFB Welcomes New Director of PJ Library Campaign News What's
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Volume XVI Issue 4 Iyar-Sivan 5777 May 2017 JFB Welcomes New Director of PJ Library By Daniel Baker and Jori Sussman Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass is pleased to announce our new Director of PJ Library, Jori Sussman. PJ Library and Shalom Baby have had an influence on Jori’s life since the birth of her first son in 2009. Since then she has volunteered, hosted events, and sat on the board of both organizations in San Diego. After her family’s recent move to Lexington, she is thrilled to join the PJ Library team and contribute to meaningful Jewish experiences for children in the Bluegrass. Jori has a Bachelor of Science in Advertising and a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Florida – GO GATORS! She loves to travel and is currently working on visiting all 50 states across America with her family. In her few moments of spare time, she loves to snuggle up with her adorable beagle, T-Bone, and read books or complete a good crossword puzzle. To get in touch with Jori about PJ Library activities, please email [email protected] or call (859) 268-0672. Campaign News To date we have received just under $50,000 in pledges for the Federation’s Annual Community Campaign. In the coming weeks we will reach out to request continuing commitments to support our community events, Jewish Family Services, and youth and adult programming. We are also very excited to announce that we have received two special grants from the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence in Louisville: $5,000 to double our JFS budget for non-profit overnight camp scholarships, as well as subsidies for local youth to attend peer-group Israel programs; and $20,300 to support this summer’s Camp Shalom program and begin preparations for next year’s 50th anniversary celebrations! Invitations for this year’s Major Gifts event will be out soon. The Major Gifts event is a fundraiser for couples giving $1,000, or individuals giving $500, or more. This year’s event will be held at a private residence on Thursday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m. Our guest speaker will be Richard Sandler, chair of the Board of Trustees of The Jewish Federations of North America. Mr. Sandler is a past chair of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. He is the executive vice president and a trustee of the Milken Family Foundation. He is a partner in the law firm of Maron and Sandler, which specializes in business restructurings and acquisitions, securities transactions and real estate. We hope you will join us at the Major Gifts event or any number of our upcoming programs. Gifts to Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass can be made through our website, by purchasing through Amazon Smile, by calling the office to pledge and pay by phone, or by mailing a check. What’s New With Camp Shalom This Year?! By Tamara Ohayon Camp Shalom is going into its 49th season with a healthy shake up! This year we will experiment with a new-ish location and new schedule, field trips to enhance the day camp program, a new database, UltraCamp, and the addition of an overnight session for children entering 2nd through 8th grade! Our day camp will be held for our usual two weeks, but this year from June 19 to June 30 at Temple Adath Israel. Yes, that’s soon! We plan to take advantage of the slightly cooler and sunnier weather and be outside as much as possible. We’ll take all of camp to the Woodland Park pool three days a week, and travel to nearby nature centers and parks two days a week as educational and fun field trips. But this doesn’t mean our core programming will change. We will still have a Jewish theme throughout (this year relating to nature and our relationship with the world around us), and focus our every day camp activi- ties on that theme as much as possible. We’ll have Arts and Crafts, Archery, Sports, Ga-ga, Drama, Nature and Cooking. This year we will offer some new and some old favorites as options for the chugim (elective activities) for each group, as well. And of course, we’ll definitely have a Maccabiah (Colors War). Everyone will get at least a taste of both new and favorite activities. (Continued on p. 13) p. 2 | Ask JFS p. 5 | Yom HaShoah p. 7 | Yom Ha’Atzmaut 1 Ask JFS: Making Informed Decisions By Mimi Kaufman The right to self determination is There are many common questions that people have. This one of the tenets of good social includes, for example, questions about who can act as a work practice. Everyone has the surrogate, the limits to their power, what life-prolonging right to live their life on their own treatments are, and who makes the healthcare decisions if terms. someone can no longer make or if they have not made an ad- The purpose of this article is to vance directive. Additionally, what happens when someone broadly cover our rights to make is rushed to the emergency department with a life-threaten- informed decisions about our med- ing emergency? Or, will my Kentucky advance directive be ical care. It is an important topic honored in another state? as we live in an age of medical Please mark your calendars for the afternoon of May 21. miracles. There are life-support machines and devices for Jewish Family Services and Hadassah will be hosting a Jew- almost every purpose: cardiac-assist devices to take over for ish Family Education Program to address these questions the heart, feeding tubes to nourish patients who cannot eat, and more. There will be more information to follow. The and dialysis to support people with failing kidneys. Ken- program is still in the development process, but the plan is tucky law recognizes your right to make choices about your to have a panel of experts that will be able to present and medical care and your right to refuse treatment and ask that answer questions from medical and legal perspectives. The life-prolonging treatment be stopped. take-away goal is for us to think about how we want to Living will directives, healthcare surrogate designations, live our lives to the fullest and how to make sure you have durable powers of attorney and mental health treatment di- thought about how you want your wishes spelled out to your rectives are all things you may consider when preparing ad- health care agent, your family, friends and doctors. vance directives. These are very personal choices that should Come and join us on May 21 for good discussion and an- be made with careful consideration. You may want to talk to swers to questions. Please RSVP to Mimi Kaufman at your family, your doctor, and your friends. [email protected]. Ask JFS is a monthly column covering a wide range of issues. If you have a problem or a concern that you would like addressed in this Shalom column, please send them either by mail to Jewish Family Services at 1050 Chinoe Road Suite 112, or by email to [email protected]. You can always call with your confidential questions at (859) 269-8244. A Day Trip to Louisville By Reva Schottenstein One of the benefits of living in Central Kentucky is that we are within a short drive of two other major cities, Cincinnati and Louisville. Either of these metropolitan areas makes for great day trip options. At only about an hour away and boasting many tourist attractions, Louisville is a great op- tion for experiencing even more Kentucky culture. The following is an itinerary for how I recently spent a day in Louisville with my family: It was a drizzly morning, so we decided to wait out the rain inside at a Louisville landmark, Joe Ley Antiques. The antique shop is located on Market Street in downtown Louisville. Housed in a 19th century school house, it has been a Louisville business landmark for over 50 years. There are four full floors of treasures to discover. You can find everything from neon signs and Derby glasses to books and furniture. Some of my favorite items were old cash registers, telephones, and carousel horses. That’s right, they even have a collection of carousel horses! In one room, we counted nothing short of 7 globes, all showing differ- ent collections of countries. One of the weirdest things we saw was a collection of caskets. Once the rain had cleared we made our way to perhaps Louisville’s most iconic landmark, Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs has been home to the Kentucky Derby for the last 142 years. Outside of racing season, Churchill Downs is a great place to visit and experience perhaps the most well-known aspect of Kentucky heritage. The racetrack is home to a wonderful museum dedicated to the story of the Kentucky Derby. Trophies, silks, saddles, and fancy hats are all on display in the Kentucky Derby museum. Guests can get in the saddle on an interac- tive horse racing game, where participants can race against one another. As part of your museum admission you can also participate in a 20-minute tour of the racetrack. The tour will take you past the paddock, trackside, and straight into the winner’s circle. It is awe-inspiring to stand beside the track and think of all the energy created by the most exciting 2 minutes in sports that come every first Saturday in May.