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Alexander Kahan, of Brookline, is one of two high school winners of a national contest testing knowledge of the Jewish Bible. |
Globe West People
Neighbor brigade
In 2002, Pam Washek of Wayland was a stay-at-home mom to her three daughters when she was diagnosed with synovial cell sarcoma in her shoulder. She immediately began treatment, joining a good friend, fellow Wayland resident Jean Seiden, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer two weeks earlier.
“I was healthy and active and exercised regularly,’’ Washek said, so the cancer diagnosis “blew me away. We were lucky to have each other.’’
She was also fortunate to have the assistance of other friends, family, and community members who drove her daughters — ages 4, 10, and 12 — to school, soccer, and Girl Scouts, and delivered meals according to a schedule organized by Seiden. After her treatment ended in 2003, Washek decided to help others who didn’t have such luxuries.
With the support of Seiden, whose cancer would return and take her life in 2006, Washek established the Wayland Angels Food Network to provide an easily duplicated meal chain model benefiting families in temporary crisis due to illness or injury. The organization, which was recently renamed Neighbor Brigade after attaining nonprofit status, continues to recruit chapter leaders throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
While the focus is on providing meals, volunteers have picked up prescriptions, shopped for groceries, read to children, and helped with homework. The volunteer base has grown from 35 to more than 1,300 in nine communities.
“People want to do something when someone is stricken with cancer, but they might not know exactly what to do. This allows them an easy way to help, and the family gets their meals taken care of without a single phone call,’’ Washek said. “My vision is to have a Neighbor Brigade in every neighborhood across the country. Who wouldn’t want to live in a community like that?’’
EMBRACING LEGACY: Philanthropy is an important part of life for Weston residents Steve and Joan Belkin. Instead of simply making financial contributions, however, they are committed to supporting the missions of nonprofit organizations.
Since 1993, the couple has sponsored trips for Boston area community leaders and schoolchildren to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1994, the Belkins and their employees accompanied 80 children with cancer and their siblings and parents to
They provide free visits for innercity children to the Belkin Family Lookout Farm in Natick, which they purchased five years ago. Most recently, they have supported Boston Medical Center’s Grow Clinic and Food Pantry, which serves 3,600 families a month, provides nutritional assessments, and teaches the basics of cooking healthy food.
“It’s a joy for us to give back,’’ Steve Belkin said. “Our time is the most precious gift any one of us has, and with that one thing, you can impact so many people.’’
In recognition of their efforts to make a difference, the Belkins are being honored with an Embracing the Legacy Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps, to be presented on June 22 at 5:30 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston.
Other award winners this year include James T. Brett of Boston, president and chief executive officer of the New England Council, chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Intellectual Disability, and a former state representative; New York City resident Wendy Kopp, chief executive officer and founder of Teach For America; and retired
For tickets and information about the awards dinner, call 617-227-4183 or go to www.rfkchildren.org.
BIBLE STUDY: Fifteen year-old Alexander Kahan of Brookline was one of two high school winners in a national contest on the Jewish Bible.
A freshman at Maimonides School in Brookline, Kahan will join junior Isaac Shulman of Teaneck, N.J., in competing at the world championship on the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), to be held in Jerusalem on Israel’s Independence Day next May.
Other winners are eighth-grader Yishai Chamudot of the Bronx, in the Hebrew middle school division, and Nathan Wolkoff of Pepper Pike, Ohio, in the English division (for students of after-school Hebrew studies).
Sponsored by the Jewish Agency, based in New York City, this year’s Bible contest drew 108 middle and high school students from 40 Jewish day and Hebrew schools. This is the second consecutive year that a Maimonides student is a US high school champion. Menachem Schindler, a Newton junior, recently returned from Israel where he finished fifth in the world.
Alexander had been preparing for the competition since September. He correctly answered 69 of 70 multiple choice questions and 43 of 49 questions in the cross-referencing section, for a final score of 112 out of 119.
“I’m a little nervous about how much more there is to study for the international final, but I’ll manage it,’’ said Alexander, who also is a member of his school’s mock trial team, a Boy Scout, part of an Israeli folk dance troop, and takes voice lessons.
“My teacher and entire class have been very supportive, and it was nice studying with last year’s winner,’’ he added. “When you get down to it, this is our heritage. It’s very important to know our roots and have that strong connection.’’
GOLD MEDAL: Boston College professor emerita Rebecca Valette of Chestnut Hill is among the first five American recipients of gold medals — and one of two honorees to receive the highest award, La Médaille d’Or de la Renaissance Française — for the promotion of French language or culture from La Renaissance Française, a French nonprofit organization founded in 1916.
Valette received the award last month from Pierre Vimont, France’s ambassador to the United States.
A professor in Boston College’s Romance languages and literatures department, she was national president of the American Association of Teachers of French, president of the Alliance Française of Boston, and vice president of the Federation of Alliances Française USA.
“Receiving this honor was a beautiful culmination to a career devoted to what I loved doing most: teaching and promoting French language and culture, and playing a role in preparing the next generations of French teachers,’’ Valette said. “It was truly moving for me to be so honored by French Ambassador Vimont.’’
WHO’S WHAT WHERE: Mitchell J. Roberts, a resident of Newton’s Waban section, has been elected president of Boston-based Huntington Theatre Company’s board of trustees, and Carol Deane of Beacon Hill has been elected as the board’s chairwoman. Their terms begin on July 1.
Don and Sarah McMillan of Southborough have been named managing partners of Howland & Spence Inc. The educational consulting firm, which was founded in 1955 and is based in Boston’s Back Bay, has been renamed Howland, Spence & McMillan.
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