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A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

Unsung Heroes

Sharon Dunski Vermont. Photo: Lisa Mandel

Dr. Mom of transgender teen shares her experience

BY ERIC BERGER, STAFF WRITERPublished May 21, 2017

Pediatrician Sharon Dunski Vermont always thought she had two daughters.She pictured them wearing white dresses at their weddings and then giving her grandchildren. “That was my dream for my children,” said Vermont, 48, who belongs to Congregation...

Suzanne Epstein-Lang. Photo: Kristi Foster

In career and volunteer life, helping to make a difference for families, community

BY ERIC BERGER, STAFF WRITERPublished May 21, 2017

Suzanne Epstein-Lang only recently started putting her name on her work. Epstein-Lang & Ohler is a law firm that helps families deal with legal, emotional and financial challenges related to a loved one struggling with addiction. But before opening...

Above, Jeffrey Cohen (center) was a driving force behind the Circle@Crown Café at Crown Center for Senior Living, where Cohen is a past board president. Photo: Kristi Foster

From a napkin big ideas grow

By David Baugher, Special to the Jewish LightPublished May 21, 2017

Returning from a fact-finding mission to Chicago, Jeffrey Cohen found himself so full of ideas he couldn’t even wait until he got home. He and his travel companions from the board of directors at the Gladys & Henry Crown Center for Senior Living...

ABOVE: Cindy Lander Wallach started Birthday Joy in 2012. The nonprofit organization helps provide birthday gifts for children in homeless shelters or receiving help from social service agencies. Behind Wallach are her children, Abby, 13, and Dylan, 15. Photo: Lisa Mandel

Birthday challenge is to spread joy to kids

BY PATRICIA CORRIGAN, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished May 21, 2017

Growing up in St. Louis, Cindy Lander Wallach remembers that whenever a family member had a birthday, her father would stop at Missouri Baking Co. for a special cake, and a great celebration would follow.  As a young adult, Wallach, her husband...

Lois and Dave Zuckerman founded Mentors4College. Photo: Lisa Mandel

Couple help students find their way after high school

BY PATRICIA CORRIGAN, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished May 21, 2017

No longer technically “unsung,” Lois and Dave Zuckerman were honored April 24 with the Parkway School District’s Pillar of Parkway award “for providing extraordinary service to the Parkway community and beyond.” Still, the couple will be hailed...

Stan Shanker visits with the family of recent immigrants Ali and Israa: Ahmed,  Jana and Hasan at their home. Photo: Lisa Mandel

‘Uncle Stan’ offers helping hand to new refugees

BY ELLENT FUTTERMAN, EDITORPublished May 21, 2017

Stan Shanker can barely knock on the front door before he’s greeted with excited yelps of “Uncle Stan! Uncle Stan!” They come from the four children of recent immigrants Ali and Israa, who range in age from 11 to 3. The older ones like to high-five...

Attorney Jay Umansky meets with a client. 

For this lawyer, giving back is a privilege

BY DAVID BAUGHER, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished May 21, 2017

Jay Umansky can still recall an elderly Russian army veteran he helped many years ago. The man was in his late 80s and spoke little English but needed a divorce from a younger woman he’d married who apparently just used him to obtain American residency. “Just...

Susan Balk (right) comforts Olive Mukabalisa, a survivor of the Rwandan Genocide, during the 2013 Yom HaShoah ceremony held by the St. Louis Holocaust Museum. File photo: Lisa Mandel 

Susan Balk: Bright light of awareness used to break cycle of hate

BY ERIC BERGER, STAFF WRITERPublished May 21, 2017

About four years ago, Lenore Pepper and Susan Balk were at a board meeting for Camp Sabra, a Jewish overnight camp, when Pepper recalls getting “on the subject of things that were hateful.”“I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, I have got a story, too,’...

Cindy Lander Wallach

Cindy Lander Wallach

Published May 21, 2017

ABOVE: Cindy Lander Wallach started Birthday Joy in 2012. The nonprofit organization helps provide birthday gifts for children in homeless shelters or receiving help from social service agencies. Behind Wallach are her children, Abby, 13, and Dylan, 15....

Harvey Ferdman has spent almost four years warning of the dangers lurking in the Bridgeton and West Lake landfills and pushing for permanent solutions.  Behind him is part of the Bridgeton Landfill South Quarry off Old St. Charles Road. Photo: Barry Gilbert

Harvey Ferdman: Fighting for public safety in north county

BY BARRY GILBERT, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished May 21, 2016

Harvey Ferdman of Chesterfield is surprisingly calm for a man dealing with officialdom’s glacial response to what everyone agrees is a serious, perhaps imminent threat: a fire under a landfill that is adjacent to a radioactive waste site. He sighs;...

Ann Frank (right) and Charlene Schweitzer collect items to pack at Project Backpack in late April. Photo: Andrew Kerman

People-person Ann Frank is a volunteer whirlwind

BY ERIC BERGER, STAFF WRITERPublished May 21, 2016

Ann Frank, a volunteer at Project Backpack, will ask others on her trips to collect toiletries from their hotel rooms so she can donate them to the organization’s clients. “She brings in bag and bags of toiletries,” said Judy Pearlstone, executive...

2016 Unsung Hero Shirley Mosinger. Photo: Yana Hotter

Shirley Mosinger has devoted her life to literacy

BY MARGARET GILLERMAN, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished May 21, 2016

Shirley Mosinger’s bookshelves are filled with impressive volumes, from Irving Howe’s “World of Our Fathers” to a book of Chinese poetry her father gave to her when she was a child.Books and learning were cherished in her Jewish household when...

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