Richmond Hadassah Keepers of the Gate members in Richmond met recently for lunch and a tour of Congregation Beth Ahabah’s synagogue and the Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives.
Keepers of the Gate are annual givers to Hadassah of $1,000 or more. Richmond boasts over 50 Keepers, the most of any chapter in the Southern Seaboard Region.
Southern Seaboard Region President, Sharon Goretsky attended the event and spoke to the group.
Local Keepers Chairs Robin Jackson and Lynn Schwartz welcomed and pinned two new Keepers of the Gate, Amy Melnick-Scharf and Tracy Retchin.
To our new Keepers of the Gate… Why did you become a Keeper?
I was invited!
When I got the invite I thought about it. I had been a double chai for several years. What really clinched it though was going to the Regional meeting and learning more about everything Hadassah really does besides HMO. I knew HMO and U.S. advocacy but not much more. Being able to contribute to a woman’s Zionist health organization is very meaningful to me.
I am making a different in Israel where my values align – helping at-risk youth, supporting cutting edge research and treatments being discovered at HMO and my personal passion here in the US advocacy for women’s reproductive health – how can you not support Hadassah?!?!?
Join me and become a Keeper!
Amy Melnick-Scharf
My journey to becoming a Keeper of the Gate brings full circle a special with a connection that began over 70 years ago.
When Joyce Slater invited me to the Keepers event at Beth Ahabah, I decided to become a Keeper in honor of my mother-in-law, Pearl Retchin (a 20-year Keeper of the Gate), my father-in-law, Associate Member, Daniel Retchin and mother Sonia Kaplan, who started a Hadassah Chapter in Northern Canada in 1934.
Pearl made me a life member when I married Sheldon, as well as my daughter, Sarah. Pearl said it was especially poignant because it was Joyce’s mother, Amy Krumbein, who so warmly welcomed her when she moved to Charlotte and began her love for and lifelong engagement with Hadassah.
Tracy Retchin
For more information about becoming a Keeper, contact Robin (rocknrobn@comcast.net) or Lynn (lbs76@aol.com).
