Non-Academic Stuff

Refugee Volunteer Work

I've led or co-led the Temple Beth Am Refugee Taskforce since 2017.  Here are a few articles about that work:

• We did two major donation collections and I drove them down to San Diego for newly-arrived refugee families being settled by Jewish Family Services in 2016-2017. See news coverage here and here. 

• We've organized events featuring refugee speakers and dishes prepared by resettled refugee chefs every year since 2017.  Here is some information about our events, and here is another one.

• I co-chaired the Los Angeles Jews for Refugees Assembly in 2018. Videos of the speakers are available on the JCARI-LA website. 

• The TBA Refugee Taskforce was highlighted in this 2019 LA Times article about Jewish activism to help refugees and asylum seekers.

• The Temple Beth Am Welcome Circle sponsored a young Afghan family of four in 2022 as part of the Sponsor Circle program. A second TBA Welcome Circle, in partnership with Ikar, is working on sponsoring a young family from Kharkiv, Ukraine.

• I often participate in the Jewish World Watch Walk to End Genocide on Team Temple Beth Am (led by Dianne Shapiro).  

Habonim Dror Camp Gilboa

I've been a board member of my kids' amazing summer camp since 2018 and am currently the Chair of the Board. 

• I'm also chair of the Master Plan committee. We selected the architectural team in early 2020 and are working through the regulatory and fundraising process. The primary goal is to increase capacity as the camp has grown beyond its current physical capacity.

• One of my contributions to the marketing as they launched the new website  was to write up the Wikipedia entry. 

• Since joining the board I've been riding for our team Go Go Gilboa, led by Mathis Chazanov, in the annual Tour de Summer Camps to help raise scholarship money. 

Neighborhood School Volunteer Work

I was pretty active in the PTA, including a couple years as president (2014-2016), at Carthay Elementary School when it transitioned to become the Carthay School of Environmental Studies:

• Unfortunately we briefly had a principal that wasn't a good fit for the incoming magnet program so we needed to do some community organizing  in 2014 to get a replacement. The local press loves conflict! Sample stories here and here. 

• Here's a nice local article in 2015 about the new environmental studies magnet program. 

• We got funding for an Outdoor Classroom that was completed in 2016.