Katz completes eighth Boston Marathon
Jewish Federation Senior Vice President Fran Katz completed her eighth Boston Marathon on Monday, with a finish time of 4:07:34, qualifying her for next year’s race. She showed up for work bright and early Tuesday morning, unscathed.
“I’ve never run in conditions like that before,” says Katz of the driving rain, wind and cold that prevailed during the race. After hearing the weather report the night before, she and her running buddies had the good foresight to purchase goggles before the race. The Tucson trio, who all finished within five minutes of one another, included Tejal Parikh and Jennifer Glynn.
“Knowing that family and friends were supporting me back home and the encouragement of friends on the ground with me, is what helped me persevere” in 36 degree weather, says Katz. “Will I do it again? I’m glad I have the opportunity to choose.” She has until the fall reservation deadline to decide.
JFSA poker tourney raises cash for Homer Davis Elementary
More than 60 players and guests attended a poker tournament hosted by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Men’s Group on Monday, April 16 at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. Players competed for a selection of gift packages and enjoyed catering by Fiamme Pizza. The event, co-chaired by Ken Morris and Michael Miklofsky, raised more than $4,400 for the JFSA Homer Davis Project, which will go toward teacher and student classroom supplies at Homer Davis Elementary School.
Community Yom HaShoah event focuses on ghetto resistance
“Resistance and Resilience: Facing Hatred with Courage Yesterday and Today,” a community-wide Yom HaShoah commemoration, was held Sunday, April 15 at Congegration Anshei Israel. Gil Riback, Ph.D., gave the keynote address.
“During the In Memoriam portion of the program, after the names of local Holocaust survivors who passed away in the last year were read, attendees were invited to stand and say the names of loved ones who were murdered during the Shoah or who were survivors who have since passed away. First a few, then numerous attendees, stood and called out names. Some read from long lists. Many wept. Soon this will become the centerpiece of the commemoration,” says Bryan Davis, executive director of the Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center, who helped organize the event.
JFSA Northwest Division commemorates Yom HaShoah
About 80 people participated in a Yom HaShoah Remembrance event hosted by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division at Splendido at Rancho Vistoso on Wendesday, April 11. Rabbi Sanford Seltzer led the Kaddish prayer and the Tucson Hebrew Academy choir performed. A video talk featured Bernd Wollschlaeger, a doctor who converted to Judaism and moved from Germany to Israel, on his father’s Nazi history. Participants lit Yahrzeit candles in commemoration of the millions of Jews and others killed in the Holocaust.
