Welcome Jewish Light summer intern

You may have noticed a new byline on Page One. Sam Mosher is currently serving as the Jewish Light’s 2018 Joseph J. Edlin Memorial Journalism Intern this summer.

The Edlin internship was founded in memory of attorney and real estate developer Joseph J. Edlin, by his widow, Miriam “Mimi” Edlin, who died last year. She had been living for years in Sarasota, Fla.

Joseph Edlin, a native St. Louisan, served as board president of the Jewish Light and was an avid writer, getting book reviews published in the Jewish Light, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The New York Times.

For about 10 years, the endowment set up in his memory was used for the Joseph J. Edlin Memorial Lectureship, and in 2006, the fund was used to create a summer internship position at the Light. Mimi Edlin had set up a similar internship with the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish News.

Mosher, 20, will be a junior this fall at the University of Missouri-Columbia Journalism School. His emphasis is in multimedia producing, which means he uses all forms of storytelling — print, photography, video, audio and social media to tell a particular story. His work has been published in the Columbia Missourian and has been featured on radio station KBIA, an NPR affiliate, and KOMU, an NBC-TV affiliate.

Mosher, who has a 4.0 grade-point average at Mizzou,  graduated from St. Charles High School. 

“My aunt and uncle work as a nightly anchor and cameraman respectively for KMBC in Kansas City,” said Mosher. “I’ve wanted to pursue journalism ever since I toured their station when I was in grade school. 

“I thought the idea of finding new stories every day was fascinating and would make a very rewarding work day. I love writing but didn’t know the best medium for it until I found journalism. Now, I am pursuing a career as a multimedia investigative journalist to produce stories using my print and technical skills.”

On Sunday, he made a short video featuring St. Louis area Boy Scouts placing American flags on the graves of Jewish war veterans at area cemeteries in honor of Memorial Day. You can view it at stljewishlight.com/multimedia.

Teen volunteers sought

Last summer, the International Institute of St. Louis and the Jewish Coalition for New Americans, a committee of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), teamed upto start a summer camp for the children of local immigrants and refugees. It had about 40 campers last summer; this year, the number of children enrolled is nearing 80.

As a result, more volunteers are needed. So if you’re 13 or older and looking for a great way to help out this summer, consider becoming a counselor at the camp. It runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 9-Aug. 2, Mondays through Thursdays, at the International Institute, 3401 Arsenal St. 

For more information, contact Alyssa Banford at [email protected].

Breakthrough in food allergies

MICDS student and Shaare Emeth congregant Alyssa “Ally” Kalishman, 15, was the subject of a recent story about a new breakthrough in food allergies on KMOV (Channel 4). Ally is allergic to dairy, eggs, nuts and shellfish.

The story explains how Ally and many other St. Louis area children have gone through Oral Immunotherapy or OIT at Allergy Asthma and Sinus Care Center in south St. Louis County. Dr. Manoj Warrier at the practice describes OIT as “the process of desensitizing someone to a food so that an accidental exposure does not lead to a life-threatening reaction.”

The OIT process works by using a staircase method of gradually increasing the amount of the food allergen a child eats until he or she builds up a tolerance.

Ally’s mother, Amy Kalishman, says this process has worked so well that her daughter is now eating “pizza for the first time, ice cream for the first time and chocolate for the first time.” 

To learn more and read the entire story, go to http://bit.ly/new-allergy-treatment.