Metro Briefs May 26
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will present its communitywide all-night study session on Tuesday, May 30 beginning at 10 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. Choose from opportunities to study with local rabbis and thinkers in a festival of learning from across the Jewish spectrum. Visit http://jfedpgh.org/shavuot for more information.
Teens in grades six to 12 are invited to Pittsburgh’s first communitywide Teen Tikkun May 30 from 10 p.m. to midnight at the JCC Second Floor (Robinson Building). Snacks will be provided. Visit http://jfedpgh.org/teen-tikkun for more information.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will present “50 Years Since the Six Day War: A Retrospective Evening” on Monday, June 5 at 7 p.m. in Levinson Hall at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. The panelists will be Shimon Mercer, spokesperson and consul for media affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York; Laurie Eisenberg, professor, historian of the Modern Middle East at Carnegie Mellon University; and Rabbi Danny Schiff, Foundation Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
The event is free to the public but registration is encouraged. Visit https://jfedpgh.org/6-day-war to register.
Contact Eric Probola at eprobola@jfedpgh.org or 412-992-5247 for questions about special accommodations.
Chabad of Pittsburgh will sponsor the sixth annual Sound of Jewish Music event for women on Wednesday, June 7 at Bellefield Hall with a dessert reception at 6:30 p.m. and the program starting at 7:15 p.m.
The Sound of Jewish Music, which brings together hundreds of Jewish women of all ages and backgrounds, features the musical performances, words of inspiration and original artwork of over 50 local Jewish women.
Tickets for the event are $20 in advance and $25 at the door; discounted tickets are available upon request.
Tickets can be purchased at SoundOfJewishMusic.com or by calling 412-421-3561. Contact caltein@chabadpgh.com for more information.
Gary Gulman, a stand-up comedian the Village Voice called the next comic “to break huge,” will be the special guest at this year’s Annual Campaign Thank You Event presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, in appreciation of donors to the 2017 campaign. The event will be held on Thursday, June 8 at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave. The evening will include two award presentations. This year’s PNC Community Builders Award winner is the Rudolph family. PNC Bank President and CEO Sy Holzer will present the award to acknowledge the family’s volunteer efforts to enhance the strength and vibrancy of the Greater Pittsburgh community.
Joel Smalley will receive the Campaigner of the Year Award, which recognizes a volunteer whose work on behalf of the annual campaign serves as a role model for others.
The Ira and Nanette Gordon (z”l) Endowment Fund of the Federation’s Jewish Community Foundation sponsors the event. Invited are donors who have made a contribution of at least $1,000 to the 2017 campaign. Dessert will be served following the program, and dietary laws will be observed. The couvert will be $10 per person.
Register online at jfedpgh.org/acty or contact Tiffany Babinsack at tbabinsack@jfedpgh.org or 412-697-6649. Babinsack can provide more information and will coordinate requests for disability-related accommodations.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will honor 19 local educators from early childhood centers, day schools and part-time religious schools at the Federation’s Unsung Jewish Heroes celebration on Sunday, June 11 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in Levinson Hall at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. The awards recognize local educators, staff and volunteers who make a lasting impact in Jewish education.
The Harold Grinspoon Awards for Excellence in Jewish Education recognizes skilled, innovative educators in day schools, religious schools and early childhood centers. This year marks the 17th year the Harold Grinspoon Foundation has presented an award to an educator in up to 80 North American communities and has recognized over 700 outstanding educators in the United States and Canada.
Honorees are nominated by the organizations they serve. In Pittsburgh, the award is supported by the Barbara and Lester Parker Fund for a Jewish Future Endowment, which is part of the Federation’s Jewish Community Foundation. Barbara Parker will present this year’s Grinspoon Award at the celebration to Ellen Drook, an early childhood educator at Temple Emanuel Early Childhood Development Center, where she teaches kindergarten enrichment.
Rabbi Amy Bardack, director of Federation’s Jewish Life & Learning department, will serve as master of ceremonies at the Unsung Jewish Heroes celebration. Light refreshments will be served; kosher dietary laws will be observed. The event is free; registration is requested.
Contact Christa Maier at 412-992-5249 or cmaier@jfedpgh.org for more information and to register. A complete list of the 2017 Unsung Jewish Heroes Award honorees and their organizations is available at jfedpgh.org/UJH2017.
The Zionist Organization of America: Pittsburgh is pleased to host the Kandy Ehrenwerth Memorial Lecture on Monday, June 19 at 7:15 p.m. at New Light Congregation. A dedicated Zionist, Charlene “Kandy” Ehrenwerth was a prominent Pittsburgh trial lawyer known for her aggressive protection of human and civil rights. Ehrenwerth was tragically killed in an automobile accident in 1992.
Rabbi Mark Staitman will speak on the “Rapidly Evolving Jewish Community: Big Challenges and Creative Solutions.” The lecture is sponsored in loving memory of Kandy Ehrenwerth by the Ehrenwerth and Reidbord families.
The lecture is free and open to the community; reservations are required. Contact Pittsburgh@zoa.org or Stuart Pavilack, executive director of the ZOA, at 412-665-4630 to make reservations.
The Jewish Healthcare Foundation and the Fine Foundation announced winners for the 2017 Fine Awards for Teamwork Excellence in Health Care. They provide recognition and a financial award to teams of professionals in Western Pennsylvania that provide innovative, quality improvement-centered treatment for mental health and substance use problems.
The 2017 Fine Award winners were selected by a panel of independent judges following a request for applications from teams in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties. The winning teams were chosen based on their submitted project’s level of innovation, sustainability and spread of best practices within and beyond their respective organizations.
The $20,000 winners:
>> Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Center for Inclusion Health — “Medical Respite: Innovative Care to Vulnerable Populations.” The Center created a post-acute care model that allows vulnerable individuals (including injection drug users and individuals lacking stable housing) to recuperate from serious illness in a residential environment while receiving home health care and social support services.
>> Prevention Point Pittsburgh (PPP) — “Overdose Prevention Project.” PPP developed a training curriculum on how to prevent and respond to heroin and opioid overdoses, while also working to increase the availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. The training curriculum includes information on factors that raise the risk of an overdose, best practices in responding to an overdose and proper techniques to administer naloxone.
>> UPMC Center for High-Value Health Care (Tie) — “Optimizing Behavioral Health Homes for Adults with Serious Mental Illness.” The UPMC Center for High-Value Health Care tested a model to strengthen the capacity of community mental health centers to help patients with serious mental illness reach health and wellness goals. UPMC partnered with Community Care Behavioral Health (a behavioral health managed care organization) to pilot the model in local community mental health centers, with the goal of increasing patients’ self-management skills and engagement in primary and specialty care.
>> Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) of UPMC (Tie) — “Peer Navigation Project: Embedding Peer Recovery Support in Acute Care Settings.” WPIC developed a pilot project which trained peer navigators who help patients suffering from a substance use disorder transition to the next level of care and coordinate post-discharge care.
The $2,500 winner:
>> AHN Forbes Hospital — “Failure to Rescue: Improving Healthcare Provider Recognition of Human Trafficking.” To better recognize potential victims of human trafficking, Forbes Hospital developed a systematic screening process and training curriculum for hospital staff.
Visit jhf.org/fine-awards for more information about the Fine Awards.
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