Jill Abrams is a personal trainer and fitness instructor at the Jewish Community Center. She stands out among the other female trainers because a long skirt and long sleeve shirt are part of her everyday workout attire. She happens to be an observant Jew as well as a person who embraces the notion of “giving back.” Not that the two are mutually exclusive.

Abrams is also the brainchild behind BeneFitness, an all-day fitness event set to take place at the JCC in Creve Coeur on Sunday, August 14th. In addition to raising money for four local charities, BeneFitness hopes to raise awareness of the importance of physical exercise and the gift of good health.

“I feel as if I have been truly blessed with good health,” says Abrams, “and that I needed to do something for people who haven’t been as fortunate. I see people at the J working out hard every day. I want to encourage them to appreciate the health they have.

“To be able to walk on a treadmill or do the elliptical or take a hard exercise class is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

Abrams, who also worked as a chiropractor for 17 years, specializes in training people with debilitating conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease as well as those who have undergone a stroke or suffer with chronic pain. She also assists youngsters with physical and mental limitations, getting them excited about working out. To see her in action with them is truly a treat.

She explains she chose each of the four charities because of their impact on certain family members and friends. The four are:  Hope Happens, raising money for neuromuscular diseases; NAMI/St. Louis-National Alliance of Mental Illness; St. Louis County Health Department Cardiac Prevention Program and Missouri Baptist Cancer Research and Prevention. 

BeneFitness will offer a wide range of activities, including continuous classes in Zumba, Aqua Zumba, spinning, Pilates and yoga as well as a racquetball tournament, lap swimming and circuit training. The classes will be led by JCC certified instructors who are donating their time. The event is open to the entire community, not just JCC members.

Regularly scheduled classes will take place as usual, though most of them end by noon on Sundays. The cost for the entire day is $36 in advance, $40 the day of the event.

“I’m hoping even J members will donate and want to spend the entire day working out,” Abrams says. “And for those who are not members of the J, this is a great chance to take part and see what goes on here.”

Then, knowing its popularity, she adds: “There’s even an all day Zumba-thon and as anyone at the J who takes Zumba knows, there are never Zumba classes on Sunday.”

For more information about BeneFitness, call 314-569-4097 during normal weekday business hours or 314-614-4397 evenings and weekends or go to www.benefitness4all.org.

Globe-trotting local artist featured in new exhibit at Innsbrook

Tanya Fredman graduated from Block Yeshiva High School in 2003 and then went to Brandeis University, where she majored in studio art. After college, she traveled to North Israel to work with orphans at Yemin Orde Youth Village. The village was begun in 1953 as a home for Holocaust orphans and now serves young orphan immigrants from Ethiopia, Russia, Brazil, China and other countries, providing them with opportunities to become leaders. She spent three months there creating art and collaborative, cross-cultural art projects with the kids that helped them to celebrate their specialness and diversity.

Not long after, in 2009, she spent eight months doing similar work with orphans in Rwanda at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village. It was modeled after the Israeli village and begun to help the large number of teenagers who had been orphaned as a result of the country’s 1994 genocide.

“I came back from there and wanted to take the stories I heard and the experiences of these people who had such strength and hope, who had overcome so many obstacles, and create art based on that,” says Fredman. “I also wanted to integrate into that my Jewish identity. So I took themes such as a Jewish holiday or time in the Jewish year and used that as a jumping off point to explore something I experienced in Rwanda.”

On Sunday, Fredman will give a gallery talk and present her vivid oil paintings and painted collages, using fabric she brought back from Rwanda, at the Innsbrook Resort Conference Center in Wright City from 3 to 5 p.m.

Her work is pretty amazing as it explores the way people from different cultures connect with one another. But don’t take my word for it – you can see for yourself at tanyafredman.com or better yet, take a ride out to Innsbrook and have a firsthand look. For more information about the show, call 314-550-4089