Page 15 - Jewish News_January 2022

FEDERATION NEWS January 2022 15A

PJ Library celebrates

record year for Hanukkits

By Jessi Sheslow, Teen & Family Programs Manager FEDERATION CELEBRATES
anukkits is PJ Library’s wild- joy of Chanukah. In fact, one teacher
ly popular program that helps shared with us that almost all her stu- HANUKKAH
Hlocal educators add diversity dents had never even heard of Cha-
into their classrooms during a time of nukah. We are making an incredible
year that can be difficult for Jewish difference!
students. As a direct result of the hard We thank Bethany Leinweber, Di- AT UTC
work Federation has done to develop rector of Youth Education, Outreach
the relationships with both Sarasota and Engagement at Temple Sinai, and The Jewish
County Schools and the School Dis- her Temple Sinai volunteers for lead- Federation of
trict of Manatee County, this was a re- ing the educational component, and the Sarasota-Manatee
cord year for teacher involvement. We Sarasota-Manatee Rabbinical Associa- was honored to
offered free Hanukkits to the school tion for sponsoring the initiative.
districts as an “opt-in” program that el- For more information about PJ Li- participate at the
ementary school principals then shared brary, contact me at jsheslow@jfedsrq. Hands on Hanukkah
with their teachers. org or 941.343.2109. event hosted by
This year, a record num- Temple Sinai at
ber of 71 teachers opted in University Town
to include Hanukkits, adding Center. We had a
more diversity to their class- blast seeing old and
rooms during the winter/ new friends alike!
holiday months. In the kit,
Shep Englander had
teachers found a Chanukah-re- the honor of lighting
lated story book, dreidels and the big Menorah!
gelt (enough for each student
to take home), a how-to guide
to play the dreidel game and
a live (Zoom or in-person)
lesson by Jewish educators,
thanks to our partnerships
with Temple Sinai and the
Sarasota-Manatee Rabbinical Temple president Ellyn Bender as
Association. Children listening to a Chanukah book reading the Menorah and Michel Mayer
In addition to offering the as the Dreidel with Pastor Steven
Hanukkits to the school dis- Handzel from West Chester, PA.
tricts, we also made the kits
available for families to pur-
chase. Sixteen families pur-
chased 20 kits. Some of the Families enjoyed
families home school their making holiday
children, and others have chil- arts and crafts.
dren a bit older than our target
age of grades 1-3. PJ Library
was thrilled to offer this en- Four-year-old Alicia Casals
richment program to our fam- Mason enjoys the reads PJ Library book
ilies as well. celebration. Hanukkah Cookies
with Sprinkles.
Altogether, between the
teacher kits and family kits,
more than 2,400 students
(mostly non-Jewish) spanning
both counties experienced the Classroom of children playing dreidel
Aviva Senior Living receives

emergency grants Sarasota Jewish Theater performs a

By Gayle Guynup medley of Fiddler on the Roof songs.
hen the Covid-19 Delta County, and the Covid-19 Response
variant caused an outbreak Initiative of Gulf Coast Community
Won the assisted living and Foundation, and Charles & Margery
skilled nursing floors at Aviva Senior Barancik Foundation. Additional in-
Living this fall, Aviva immediately kind support of personal protective
sought emergency funding in order to equipment (PPE) came from the Bank
support its efforts to keep its residents of America Foundation, overseen by
healthy and safe. The community re- President Mike McCoy.
sponded with more than $30,000 in “Aviva is so proud and honored
gifts and in-kind support. that we were fortunate enough to re-
The Jewish Federation of Sara- ceive grants from various local foun-
sota-Manatee stepped in with a do- dations and government agencies to
nor-advised emergency grant from the assist us in our constant battle against
Cohn Gutterman Philanthropic Fund to the Covid-19 virus,” said Aviva CEO
help lessen the impact of the outbreak. Jay Solomon. “This partnership with The JFEDSRQ gang with
The Federation was one of three Sara- community organizations is a priority Temple Sinai representatives.
sota partners who came together in of our mission to ensure that our res-
support of Aviva with funding at this idents, staff and family members are
critical time. able to be in a safe, secure environment.
Gifts were received from the Ar- The only words that best describe our
thur T. Esslinger Memorial Fund of the feelings are ‘thank you.’”
Community Foundation of Sarasota