An Incredible Year for Federation
This has been an incredible year for Federation and you
Several successes, new initiatives and major milestones
On May 11, more than 250 guests gathered to celebrate a thriving Jewish Palm Beach during Federation’s Annual Meeting. Co-chaired by Jonathan Chane and Beth Wayne, the evening included several significant announcements as well as an awards ceremony to honor dedicated leaders and professionals in our community.
Federation’s Board Chair Susan Shulman Pertnoy and President & CEO Michael Hoffman, shared several areas of growth and achievement, including:
- The launch of the Palm Beach Center to Combat Antisemitism & Hatred to expand Federation’s longstanding leadership role to address antisemitism by strengthening community security and enhancing relationships with key legislators and leaders to speak out against hatred of the Jewish people. The Center will focus on advocacy, leadership and educational outreach programs.
- Federation’s Jewish Volunteer Center has been renamed to the Dorothy & Sidney Kohl Jewish Volunteer Center. The Kohl family generously donated $2.5 million to JVC. This past year, more than 5,000 JVC volunteers provided 70,000 meals to people in need, contributed 4,300 books and 17,000 backpacks with supplies for students at Palm Beach County Title 1 Schools and assembled 4,500 Dignity Grows™ toiletry kits.
“The incredible success of this year’s campaign is awe-inspiring. What we achieved through the generosity of many dedicated leaders will be evident for years to come and demonstrates that our Jewish values are hard at work every day, impacting thousands of lives in the Palm Beaches and around the world,” shared Michael Hoffman, President & CEO.
In addition, Federation highlighted the success of new educational programs aimed at expanding Jewish cultural experiences including Sundays Together family programs, OneTable Shabbat dinners for adults in their 20s and 30s and the IsraelNow trip to Israel for eighth graders.
Several awards were also presented to volunteers and professional leaders including:
Earle Halsband
received the Hope Silverman
Campaigner of the Year Award.
Amy Terwilleger and Jason DelGrosso received the Robert S. & Ceil N. Levy Young Leadership Award for devoting their time and energy to strengthening the Jewish community.
Melissa Hudson, Federation’s Assistant Vice President of Community & Volunteer Engagement, received the Debbi Roshfeld Professional Leadership Award.
Julie Sudenfield, a teacher at Temple Shaarei Shalom, received the Commission for Jewish Education’s Hiddush Teacher Award for developing new and innovative teaching methods.
Kathy Sigall,
Federation’s Chief Financial Officer,
celebrated an impressive
25 years with the organization.
Chani Kolan, the community Shlicha (Israel emissary) and Tom Benisty and Agam Ilovich, Shinshiniot (Israeli post-high school emissaries) were recognized for enhancing our community’s cultural bridge to Israel.
At the conclusion of the meeting, community leader Barry S. Berg was named Board Chair-Elect and will serve as Federation Board Chair in 2024. Click here to see the full 2023-2024 Executive Committee and 2023-2024 Board of Directors.
