JFGO Choices 2012 continues to grow
by Jill Cousins, Special to the Heritage
The first time Joanne Kane attended a Women’s Division event for the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, she remembers thinking, “We could make something really big out of this.” So, while working for the Federation in 1993, she came up with an idea.
“I did some research, and thought that a good name for the event would be ‘Choices,’ because women today have so many choices in their lives,” Kane said. “They make choices to give; they make choices to volunteer.
“When we started Choices, it was about bringing women together and educating them about our Jewish community. From the beginning, there was an energy in the room, and people wanted to be a part of it.”
About 250 women attended the first Choices event, and it has grown each year. Last year’s sold-out event was attended by more than 450 women and raised more than $200,000 for the Federation.
Choices celebrates its 18th anniversary on, Jan. 26 at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Maitland. Celebrity guests for this year’s program will be actress Mayim Bialik (“The Big Bang Theory,” “Blossom”) and solo performer Vanessa Hidary (a k a the Hebrew Mamita). Rene Brent will be honored with the 2012 Harriet Ginsburg Woman of Choice award.
Registration begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner and the program at 6:30.
Loren London co-chaired the first Choices event with Kane’s sister, Lisa Feldman, and a few years later, she was honored as the inaugural Woman of Choice for her volunteer work in the Jewish community.
“We wanted to bring a signature event to Central Florida,” said London, who has been a volunteer for the past 20 years. “Choices is a program for women and about women in our community, with roots that can take it into the future, connecting generation to generation. It’s also a wonderful social venue for women to connect. Choices brings everyone together.”
The Woman of Choice award was renamed for another honoree, Ginsburg, after she died in a plane crash in 2002. Other Woman of Choice honorees include Rhonda Pearlman, Jodi Krinker, Susan Bierman, Harriett Lake, Sonia Mandell, Sheryl Meitin, Charlotte Rotenberg, Roz Fuchs Schwartz, Tess Wise, and Judy Yarmuth.
“Paying tribute to the women they honor each year, I find that very compelling,” said Bierman, who was president of the Federation in the mid-1980’s. “Choices is a really wonderful gathering of women of all ages in the Jewish community. It’s an event that everyone wants to go to, and it’s been like that since the beginning.”
Jeannie Leavitt is among those women. She has religiously attended every Choices event; she was the Choices chairperson for two years; and she has been on the program’s committee for eight years. This week, Leavitt has to take her daughter to a couple of college interviews and will miss Choices for the first time.
“It’s bittersweet. I really don’t want to miss Choices,” Leavitt said. “It’s one of those things that I definitely look forward to each year.
“At Choices, you get to see the people you know and meet new people, too. These are women who care about the community and Judaism and tikkun olam. The power in that room is amazing!”
Read this entire story in the print edition of the Heritage; call 407-834-8787 for more information.