I am always delighted when I get a request from teenagers for space in this column. So when Emily Rosen asked me to write about Clayton High School’s “Mr. CHS,” a talent show to choose the senior boy with the most school spirit, I was elated. It is the school’s fundraiser for Friends of Kids with Cancer. All the money from the show and from T-shirts especially designed for the occasion will be donated to Friends of Kids with Cancer. “Mr. CHS” will premiere on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Clayton High School auditorium. Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the door. Emily is being assisted by Gabby Mottaz and Maggie Lanter, all three seniors, who are members of a student organization called DECA, which studies marketing, management, and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality and marketing sales and services.

* CHABAD OF GREATER ST. LOUIS will give its prestigious Morris and Ann Lazaroff Lamplighter Award on Nov. 22 to Milton and Galia Movitz and Washington University Chancellor Mark Wrighton and his wife, Risa Zwerling (Milton Movitz is a Trustee and Immediate Past President of the Jewish Light). Entertainment is to be provided by 8-year-old piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick. What sounds like a very festive evening will be held at the Westin St. Louis. Need to know more? Chabad has developed a Web site which can handle secure online payments for reservations as well as all the information about the Lamplighter Award. Check it out at www.showmechabad.com/lamplighter.

* MEZZO-SOPRANO MAGDA FISHMAN will be the centerpiece of an evening called Dynamic and Devine,” a B’nai Amoona Sisterhood fundraiser for the Torah Fund on Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. at their congregation, 324 South Mason Road. An outstanding diva, Fishman is currently enrolled as a cantorial student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Funds from the Torah Fund event will help support the four seminaries which educate the best and brightest students. She will be accompanied by Israeli pianist Gilad Cohen. Tickets for the concert are $25 per person plus a Torah fund donation of $18. For reservations to the concert and the dessert-reception contact Marla Goldstein, 314-576-2641 or Enid Weisberg Frank, 314-576-2864.

* SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6. Mark your calendar now and save the date for LightFest, the Jewish community’s biggest and most comprehensive event in the history of the St. Louis Jewish Federation.

In an effort to combat our bad times, this day will be dedicated to serving community needs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the JCC’s Millstone Campus — the Staenberg Family Complex and Jewish Federation Kopolow Building. There are many ways you can help beginning with just attending LightFest, as for each person who shows up on December 6 the Staenberg Family Foundation will contribute $5 to Jewish Federation’s 2009 campaign. You can bring cans of food and personal care items for the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry which has experienced a 93 percent increase in new families served. There’s a special kids’ project to raise funds for the Lifeline Fund as well as a children’s winter clothing drive. A toy drive, a phone-a-thon, a blood drive are just a short list of what you can do. Plus the committee, chaired by Keith Alper and Susan K. Goldberg, is planning one of the world’s largest Hanukah menorahs to be signed by everyone who attends LightFest. This is but the tip of the iceberg for what I am told will be one of the most special events in the history of our Jewish community to be represented by a cross section of ages, congregations and affiliations.

* When Jeri Changar died on Oct. 26 St. Louis lost an accomplished painter, jewelry artist and educator. Originally from Chicago, Jeri graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago and earned an MS at the University of Wisconsin. In 1986 she received her Ph.D. from Washington University. But these were only her academic accomplishments. She was a respected art educator, teaching at Parkway public schools and eventually became associate professor of Art Education at SIUE.

Jeri is best known in the community as a glass jewelry and fused glass artist. She was nationally known, and her designs were shown in juried shows as well as prestigious art fairs.

Her unique fused glass bead designs were tremendously popular, so much so that I suspect you know women who wear her creations.

Jeri’s friend Annette Harrison told me, “Jeri was bigger than life, an outstanding educator, artist and bead maker. She was an amazing presence who always looked like a piece of art. Also her house was a folk art museum.”

Jerilynn B. “Jeri” Changar is survived by her husband Earl Changar.