To paraphrase singer James Taylor, how sweet it is (to celebrate with you)...
Having started the 2023 JCF Scholarship Awards cycle in December of last year with the launch of a new online application portal for award applicants to utilize, the multi-month process wrapped up on Monday, June 5th with a special dessert reception to celebrate the awardees.
To view photos from this reception, please visit our Facebook page.
During this event, close to 70 community members joined together to commemorate 19 individuals who collectively earned $37,000 in financial awards. The talented and deserving awardees are:
lla Alfassy
Sarah Arnstein
Jacob Berko
Galit Brody
Jodie Camba
Jordyn Clarkson
Macy Desmond
Natalie Desmond
Maya Ezran
Bailey Hann
Luke Kaplan
Noah Kaplan
Ross Koenig
Amanda Lane
Sophie Neuwirth
Emma Schrier
Leah Spector
Marissa Tuman
Yarden Yanushkevich
Mazel tov - congratulations- to this cohort of amazing awardees!
An annual highlight on the Jewish Community Foundation's calendar, the JCF Scholarship Awards Reception took place in the Weinberg Jewish Community Campus's Lahn Social Hall. Attending the event were 10 of the awardees and their loved ones, along with JCF Scholarship Committee members, award donors, board trustees, and staff.
Sure, there were delicious brownies, cookies, fruit, and other tasty treats that many of the guests enjoyed, but the sweetest part was indeed celebrating the awardees' successes.
JCF President Robert Elias welcomed everybody and gave a brief overview of the JCF and pointed out that since launching scholarship awards more than 20 years ago, the JCF has provided a sum of approximately $425,000 to scores of incredible individuals. This is testament to our generous donors who created endowment funds for this vital cause. At the conclusion of this speech, Elias introduced two rising stars in the community who gave back-to-back poignant speeches.
First, Justin Tuman shared his story about challenges he faced leading up to, during, and after college, elaborating on how the scholarship awards he received from the JCF in 2019 and 2020 truly enabled him to pursue his dreams.
Next, Emma Wolf described her close friendship with Jaclyn "Jac" Ehrlich who died at just 19 years old in 2021 following a two-year bout with Ewing sarcoma. Emma observed that Jac lived her fullest life despite her diagnosis by traveling, spending time with friends, continuing her studies, and giving back to others. Emma and her family decided to establish the Jaclyn Ehrlich Travel Experience Award to continue her legacy, and this was the inaugural year that the award was provided to a recipient.
Following these eloquent and stirring speeches, JCF Scholarship Committee Chair Carol Roth announced each of the 11 awards and their corresponding awardees, and presented a certificate to those awardees who were present.
The roster of awards provided for 2023 is:
AlanJo Memorial Scholarship Award
Patrice Faye Cohen Memorial Scholarship Award
Jaclyn Ehrlich Travel Experience Award
Furer-Barag-Wolf Post 126 Jewish War Veterans Scholarship Fund
Valerie Gladfelter Scholarship Award
Donald Love Memorial Scholarship Award
Susan Love Memorial Scholarship Award
Robert L. Schattner Scholarship Award
Seymour Siegel Youth Achievement Award
Mildred Soefer Scholarship Fund Award
Student Opportunity Scholarship Award - (In Memory of Arthur & Eleanor Klein and David Rivkin)
JCF Director David Snyder closed the evening, congratulating the award winners and wishing them great success in their educational and professional careers ahead.
The event was wrapped up within one hour... a short and sweet program.
We look forward to next year's awards cycle which will begin on or about December 15th, with the deadline to apply landing on March 1, 2024.
Additionally, we welcome inquiries about how you can start your own award fund to assist some of the best and brightest scholars in SNJ. (It's a sweet deal.)
For any questions about starting a fund or our awards in general, please contact the JCF today at 856-673-2560 or infojcf@jfedsnj.org.