Aliyah Becker, United Hebrew Congregation

Aliyah Becker, daughter of Cindy and Ed Becker of Chesterfield, decided that since members of her family had been affected by cancer, she would dedicate her bat mitzvah project to help those affected by the disease – along with donations to the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center.

Aliyah, a student at Whitfield School, wrote a short essay describing her project:

“When people are getting chemotherapy they are in a room alone or with other people going through the same thing. Most of the time the rooms are very cold. The chemo lab gives each patient a hospital blanket to help keep them warm. These hospital blankets are not very warm and they are not very attractive. For my mitzvah project I am making colorful, soft and very warm fleece blankets for the patients. I want to make their hospital visits a little more pleasant for them. They will get to choose their own blanket and take them home. Then they can bring their blanket to each of their appointments.

“I did a lot of these blankets with my Grandmother and I had a pizza party with a bunch of friends where we made more. We even teamed up in groups of two to see who could finish a blanket the fastest! It was really fun having my friends there to support my project and the patients at Missouri Baptist. I am planning on continuing to make more blankets for the chemo patients.

“For the last three years I have participated with my family in the St. Louis Ovarian Cancer Awareness (SLOCA) walks and this year I got to volunteer at the SLOCA Dinner and Auction. It was really fun!

“I also donated money from my B’nai Tzedek Youth Philanthropy Fund to the St. Louis Holocaust Museum. I have been there many times as well as the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. I think it is important that everyone in our community visit the museum in St. Louis so a Holocaust could never happen again. Donations to the museum help to make these visits possible.”