A Message from Shelley Hubal, Federation Director

From the Desk of the Federation Executive Director: With Gratitude 4/19/24

By Shelley Hubal

One-hundred-ninety-eight days. If, God forbid, the hostages are not freed by the first night of Passover, it will mark 198 days since their torture and captivity began. The hostages include young men and women with their whole lives in front of them, a baby, innocent childr…

From the Desk of the Federation Executive Director: With Gratitude 3/6/24

By Shelley Hubal

The challenges of our world today are numerous and, like many of you, I have been feeling enormous grief over the war in Israel and Gaza. As I reflect on the last few weeks, I thought it might be nice to share some interactions with community members who have brought me som…

From the Desk of the Federation Executive Director: With Gratitude 2/9/24

By Shelley Hubal

“Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?”

With empathy, the beloved Sesame Street character Elmo posted this question recently on the social media platform X and opened a floodgate. More than 13,000 people responded and the post was viewed more than 180 milli…

From the Desk of the Federation Executive Director: With Gratitude 12/29/23

By Shelley Hubal

I recently read a short article by Jacklin Kwan on the web magazine Live Science. The article details the findings of researchers studying the sprouts that Redwood trees grew after a devastating 2020 fire swept through the Big Basin Redwood State Park in California.

The t…

From the Desk of the Federation Executive Director: With Gratitude 12/1/23

By Shelley Hubal

“From a place of deep pain we hold strong for you, Omer. We speak in your name tirelessly, we hope and we pray and we act, and I want to believe that our prayers and actions have power. “ – Orna Neutra, mother of Omer Neutra, one of the 240 hostages held by Hamas.
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