Our Town

The seventh grade class of TEMPLE EMANU-EL’s Kurn Religious School participated in the Association for Fundraising Professionals Youth in Philanthropy program. The students chose to support cancer research and, after issuing a request for proposals, selected the American Cancer Society as their fund recipient. The class raised $1,038, with… Read more »

12 Torches Ceremony  Two hundred and fifty people attended the Weintraub Israel Center’s 12 Torches Ceremony and Dinner on Thursday, May 12 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The dinner was prepared by four Israeli chefs visiting from the Israel Center’s Partnership2Gether region. In Israel, the 12 Torches Ceremony… Read more »

Poster contest winner Sophie Bergantino, an eighth grade student at The Gregory School, won the City of Tucson Environmental Service’s “Do More Blue” recycling poster contest, which was open to students in the fourth through eighth grades, citywide. More than 150 entries were received. The winning poster, with the… Read more »

Marian Lupu

Nonagenarian MARIAN LUPU, founder of the Pima Council on Aging, was honored with the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona 2016 Buddy Amos Founders Award at the foundation’s annual event April 27 at Hacienda del Sol. The agency, which Lupu began with a group of volunteers, got its start in… Read more »

THE WESTIN LA PALOMA RESORT AND SPA has appointed MARIA ELENA ARMENTA and MARC VAN DAM as group account directors and DEBORAH WEISS as group sales manager. Armenta previously served as the regional director at the Preferred Hotel Group in Miami. Van Dam, who will be based in Dallas,… Read more »

ELYSE PINCUS was one of 100 new Birthright Israel Fellows who received training last month at a four-day seminar in San Diego. Pincus is the Birthright coordinator at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. She also teaches pre-k and kindergarten beit midrash at Congregation Chaverim. GABE LEHRER, a senior… Read more »

Julie Zorn

JULIE ZORN, Jewish living and learning specialist at the TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, has completed LEAP (Leadership Enrichment and Advancement Program), a continental leadership program from the Jewish Community Center Association’s talent management pilot program. Zorn is one of only 22 people selected from nine JCCs across North America.… Read more »

Brandeis high tea The Tucson chapter of the Brandeis National Committee held a “High Tea” party and installation of officers on Wednesday, April 6 at Skyline Country Club, with 65 people attending. Marilyn Heins, M.D., spoke on “The Joy of Aging.” Proceeds from the event benefit the Tucson Endowed… Read more »

CLAIRE’S CAFÉ, owned by CLAIRE JOHNSON, is a finalist for the Good Neighbor Award, one of the 2016 Torch Awards to be awarded by the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona. The award recognizes a company “that has shown a commitment to making southern Arizona a better place through… Read more »

  SHARON MEGDAL, Ph.D., was awarded the Women of Influence Lifetime Achievement Award for 2016. The award was presented by Tucson Local Media/Inside Tucson Business at the culmination of its gala Women of Influence awards dinner on March 22. The award recognizes Megdal for her efforts in Arizona and… Read more »

HANNAH GÓMEZ has joined the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Coalition for Jewish Education’s PJ Library team as coordinator of PJ Our Way. She will be working with PJ Our Way tweens ages 9-11. She also will coordinate outreach efforts for both PJ Library and PJ Our Way. Gómez… Read more »

PATRICIA C. BISCHOF’s weathered metal art is being shown at the Tucson Museum of Art gift shop and Toscana Studio and Gallery. Bischof received her bachelor’s degree from Prescott College in Tucson, with a minor in art.… Read more »

BERTÍ S. BRODSKY has joined the Arizona Jewish Post as account executive. She has 10 years of sales experience for various media including the Tucson Weekly, Cloud 95 radio, TCI/Tucson Cable Advertising and the Savvy Shopper. A graduate of Catalina High School, she earned her associate’s degree from Pima… Read more »

“Then … and Now,” an artist’s book/chapbook featuring original poems and calligraphy by WENDY GRAHM has been acquired by the University of Arizona Poetry Center for the L.R. Benes Rare Book Room collection. The handmade book is available for public perusal in the library.… Read more »

History, Holocaust museums reopen Hundreds of people turned out Sunday, Feb. 21 for the reopening of the Rose and Maurice Silverman Jewish History Museum Campus. The Friedman Family Jewish History Museum and the newly expanded Gould Family Holocaust History Center opened to the public after remarks by Tucson Mayor… Read more »

Super Extraordinary Sunday The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona held its Super Extraordinary Sunday fundraiser and Mitzvah Day on Jan. 31. With 150 phone and clerical volunteers logging more than 480 pledges and donations to the 2016 Community Campaign, the phone-a-thon raised $225,000. Thirty-four people donated blood through the… Read more »

FEIGIE CEITLIN, program director of Chabad Tucson, delivered the keynote address, “The Innate Power of Youth,” at  the annual Kinus (convention) of young shluchos (emissaries) of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sunday, Jan. 31. Addressing 900 people in attendance from around the world, Ceitlin spoke of the… Read more »

ERMANOS CRAFT BEER & WINE BAR, 220 N. Fourth Ave., has launched a discount wine club. The TUCSON WINE CLUB is led by one of Ermanos’ owners, Mark Erman, and will be curated by sommelier Anya Linda. For information, visit tucwineclub.com or email anya@tucwineclub.com.… Read more »

Tucson author RONI CAPIN RIVERA-ASHFORD’s bilingual book, “My Tata’s Remedies/Los remedios de mi tata,” received the American Library Association and REFORMA’s Pura Belpré award as a 2016 Illustrator Honor Book. The award is given annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator “whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the… Read more »

The DIAMOND FOUNDATION has committed to endow the TUCSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA with $1 million to create the Joan B. Diamond Concertmaster chair. Diamond is a lifelong music lover who studied piano and voice at the University of Arizona. She introduced classical music to her children by buying season tickets… Read more »