Beth Land Hecht, Senior Manager, Successful Aging at Jewish Community Services (JCS), received the Daniel Thursz Distinguished Jewish Communal Service Award. This annual award recognizes an individual who has worked in the field of Jewish communal service for at least 20 years, serves the greater Baltimore community and demonstrates leadership and exemplary professional skills.

Abigail Malischostak, Partnerships Manager at the Jewish Volunteer Connection (JVC), received the Outstanding Jewish Communal Professional award for demonstrating exceptional promise and a commitment to a career in Jewish communal service.

Lisa Bodziner, Executive Director of the Towson Hillel, received the Neely Tal Snyder Community Impact Award. This award honors the memory of Neely Tal Snyder z”l by recognizing a professional with a strong commitment and passion for Jewish community. The winner of this award has helped to build immersive and hands-on experiences/programs that have community impact and demonstrate creativity, openness and inclusion.

In addition, Mark Sunshine, dishwasher at Pearlstone received the H.E.R.O. Award. This award is new this year and recognizes an “unsung” employee who goes above and beyond their typical daily job, to care about the overall functioning of the organization and the people that surround them, and supports their organization with “Heart, Excellence, Reliability and Optimism.”

About Beth Land Hecht: For more than 30 years, Beth has dedicated herself professionally and personally to serving the Jewish community, improving the lives of countless children, adults, families and older adults, while serving as a mentor, supervisor and role model for other Jewish communal professionals.

Beth’s professional career in Jewish human services began when she joined Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Central Maryland, which is now part of JCS. As coordinator of the Jewish Outreach Network, a JFS program offered in partnership with the Baltimore Board of Rabbis, Beth provided guidance, programming and consultation to hundreds of Jews and interfaith families to find a sense of belonging and connection to Judaism and our Jewish community. Subsequently, Beth became manager of Community Outreach and ensured community-based programming addressed the needs and challenges individuals and families were experiencing across the lifecycle.

Beth’s commitment to improving the lives of Jewish children and families led her to become program director of matching services at Jewish Big Brother Big Sister League, a sister agency of Jewish Family Services. Beth also served as a Baltimore Jewish community delegate on social service missions to Israel and Odessa.

In 2008, JCS formally launched as an organization of comprehensive services that included JFS and Jewish Big Brother Big Sister League. Beth became its senior manager of community engagement.

Beth is a connector who has strengthened partnerships among agencies and organizations to enhance the services being provided to our community members. She is dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion. She also has taken a lead role on the Jewish Community Critical Incident Response Team and is an integral part of the system-wide team that developed AgeWell Baltimore, a new Centennial initiative of The Associated.

About Abigail Malischostak: In her six years at the Jewish Volunteer Connection (JVC), Abigail has transformed JVC’s relationships with community organizations. In her current role, Abigail is responsible for stewarding and nurturing JVC’s relationships with synagogues, schools, Jewish camps and more. She has grown JVC’s partnerships from two to more than 60 and significantly increased the depth of JVC’s work with existing partners.

Through her direct responsibilities, Abigail was responsible for engaging volunteers in almost 8,500 individual acts of service in FY19. In this last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, Abigail guided community partners to find new and innovative ways to engage in service virtually and in physically distanced ways. In Jewish learning, strategic thinking and long-term planning, Abigail can always be counted on to be thoughtfully engaged, articulating a variety of perspectives and ensuring that the team hold themselves to the highest standards.

About Lisa Bodziner: Lisa has engaged more and more students in experiential, high-impact Jewish opportunities. Lisa is a passionate and skilled community connector, integrating Jewish life at Towson into the greater Baltimore community through resource-sharing, governing board cultivation and prioritizing community partnership when possible.

She does everything in her power to make Towson Hillel a warm and welcoming place. From training every student leader in hospitality, to personally taking students on coffee dates, to regular check-in texts to see how they are doing, Lisa truly understands the importance of relational engagement and is a pro at making people feel seen and valued. With a master’s degree in Jewish Education, Lisa is a skillful Jewish educator and has been credited for building the capacity of her staff team in order to empower others as educators as well.

About Mark Sunshine: Mark is revered as a kind and thoughtful person who manifests the care and compassion that is central to Pearlstone’s mission and vision. Colleagues credit him for his kindness and willingness to pitch in and help, even if it is beyond the scope of his job. Examples of his kindness come in many ways, from building outdoor cat houses for the wild cats that have made their home on Pearlstone’s campus and starting a free food donation box for staff to packing emergency food boxes, and much more. Mark cares deeply about everyone and everything, connecting with colleagues in the kitchen and throughout the organization.

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About the Darrell Friedman Institute for Professional Development at the Weinberg Center and Na’aleh: The Hub for Leadership Learning

The Darrell Friedman Institute for Professional Development at the Weinberg Center is a division of Na’aleh: The Hub for Leadership Learning, an agency of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore. Na’aleh offers community-wide interactive and inspiring learning opportunities for professionals and volunteers to connect and grow as leaders working together to ensure a vibrant Baltimore Jewish community.

About The Associated

The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore strengthens and nurtures Jewish life by engaging and supporting community partners in Greater Baltimore, Israel and around the world.

The Associated and its system of agencies are supporting the needs of the Baltimore community during the COVID-19 pandemic,  providing emergency food and housing assistance, unemployment counseling, mental health services, virtual programming and more. Please visit associated.org/covid-19 to learn about the resources available.  If you or someone you know is struggling, contact 410-466-9200 or info@jcsbaltimore.org.  

Please consider a gift to The Associated to help our community during these challenging times. Even if you have already made a gift, please consider giving more associated.org/give.