Expertise:
Volunteer Work, Mental Health, Fundraising, Community Activities, Child Welfare, Divorce Counseling, Employee Assistance, History, Activism, Judaism, Jewish History
Major Product/SVS:
Rehabilitation and Counseling Services, Working with Teen Assessment Groups in Eight States and One Province
Hobbies/Sports:
Shopping, Traveling, Talking to Friends, Exercising, Playing with her Grandchildren
Education Degrees:
Master of Social Work, Jane Adams College of Social Work (1990); Bachelor of Arts in Music; Licensed in Social Work, Jane Adams College of Social Work
Affiliations Awards:
National Conference of Synagogue Youth; National Association of Social Workers; NEFESH; Chicago Community Kollel
Work History:
Involved in a Study Project, Gathering Information on a Privately-Funded Project Concerning the Remaining Synagogues and Jewish Cemeteries in Eastern Europe. Countries Visited Include Czechoslovakia, Romania, Austria, Israel and the Mideast. Interviewing Holocaust Survivors and Children of Survivors in These Countries (2001-Present). Presently Provides Consultation (Employee Assistance, Group Work and Individual Consulting). Advisor at the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (1999-Present); Advisor for Chicago Community Kollel (2000- Present). Child Welfare Specialist with the State of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (1991-1993); Taking Care of Nursing Home Patients as a Social Worker. Her Divorce Brought a Whole Different Dimension and Way of Thinking that Really Helped her move Forward in Life and Helped her to Just Rely on Herself. She Counsels in Hebrew, English and Yiddish.
Career Achievements:
She has Been Involved with the Chicago Community Kollel Institute of Advanced Torah Studies in Many Capacities. She is an Avid Supporter of the Institution and its Programs. She is a Former Honoree of Their Annual Dinner, and has Served as a Banquet Coordinator on Numerous Occasions. She has Hosted Classes for the School in her Home. She Attends Their Monthly Buffet of Jewish Thought Program. She also Plays an Important Leadership Role for the NCSY (National Conference of Synagogue Youth). She has a Great Deal of Jewish Cultural Knowledge, Having Toured Eastern Europe Extensively, Visiting Synagogues and Other Sites of Jewish Interest. She has a Very Strong Jewish Identity and a Good Knowledge of Both Ancient and Contemporary Jewish History. Professionally, she has had much Experience in the Health Care Industry, Involved with Geriatric Patients. To Expand her Knowledge and Horizons Further, She Embarked on a Second Career in Social Work. She has a Long and Distinguished Record of Leadership in Jewish Organizations in Chicago and Beyond. She has Been a Long-Time Lay Leader in Such Organizations as Arie Crown Hebrew Day School, NCSY and the Chicago Community Kollel. She has also Been Involved in Innovative Programs Such as Camp Extreme, which is a Jewish Camp that Deals with At-Risk Adolescents, Reaching Them by Providing an Action-Packed, Adventuresome Summer. She was Invited to go to China as a Delegate Between America and China in November 2006. She Also Traveled with Adults and American University Students to Israel to Make Them More Aware of Judaism. She has been a Mentor to Many People.
Expanded Biography:
I have always wanted to have an impact on people, to change their lives and do something meaningful and purposeful with my life. I am the child of Holocaust survivors; both of my parents were in Auschwitz, Poland during World War II. They came to America after the war and we were taught to help other people as the Americans helped them after the war. America is a great country, and I am proud to be an American and live in a free society as an Orthodox Jew. I have been able to combine being an American and an Orthodox Jew in my daily work.