HONORING
44th Annual Mitzvah Award Recipients
Nan and Paul Gordon
Betsy and Michael Stone
Volunteer of the Year Award Recipient
Sally Kleinman
Community Service Award Recipient
Ronnie Sichel
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44th Annual Mitzvah Award Recipients
Nan and Paul Gordon

Nan and Paul are both grateful and humbled by this recognition and honor. Their involvement in numerous local organizations have been based upon their strong commitment to this community and their desire to improve the plight of those less fortunate.

Nan is a retired school psychologist and has focused her volunteer effort in leadership roles regarding education at Temple Sinai and the UJF of Stamford, New Canaan, and Darien. She also is an original Board member of The Back to School Shop.

Paul retired 10 years ago from the wealth management industry. He has spent the past 12 years on the board of Schoke JFS, including 3 recent years as Board Chair. Previously he served in leadership roles at Temple Sinai, UJF and the JCC.

Nan and Paul recently celebrated 50 years of marriage and have lived in Stamford for almost 40 years. They have 3 wonderful daughters and sons-in-law, and best of all 3 fabulous grandchildren.


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44th Annual Mitzvah Award Recipients
Betsy and Michael Stone

The Stone family moved to Stamford more than 30 years ago when Mike joined the Tax group at GE Capital, and Betsy established a private Clinical Psychology practice. That was work, but they immediately found a home in the Jewish community. Their three children, young then, each became b’nei mitzvah at Temple Sinai and went on to chair the congregation’s youth group. Betsy served as a temple vice president and on the Rabbi Search Committee, and created an innovative family education program for the Religious School. Mike was a co-chair of Sinai’s Experiment in Congregational Education, later served as the congregation’s president, and then chaired its first Development Committee and Life & Legacy committee. Temple Sinai has been their anchor in the community.

They also served the broader community. Mike was board chair of both Merkaz Torah and Kulanu, and a board member of the Jewish Community Endowment Foundation. Betsy also chaired and taught at Kulanu. Betsy taught for 18 years at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in both the rabbinic and education programs and received the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education in 2012. After retiring from her psychology practice, she has been a widely sought teacher and consultant to Jewish clergy, educators, youth professionals, parents’ groups, and community organizations. She helps them respond to issues such as COVID-19 and the current crisis in Israel, and teaches and helps design programs on topics such as trauma, post-traumatic growth, addressing generational differences, and professional burn-out and self-care. All of that has left her busier in “retirement” than when she was “working.”

Betsy served on the SJFS board early in their time in Stamford, and she and Mike co-chaired the SJFS Saul Cohen Lecture for many years. That involvement led to Mike joining the board, where he has served for the last 11 years, including six as Vice President and Treasurer.

SJFS perfectly embodies the Stones’ commitment to the power of Jewish precepts to implement tikkun olam and make both our local community and the broader world a better place for us all. They are proud of their work with SJFS, and very grateful for this opportunity to lead by example.


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Volunteer of the Year Award Recipient
Sally Kleinman

Sally Kleinman, along with her husband Larry and daughters Carlie and Rebecca, moved from Brooklyn to Westport 30 years ago in search of good schools, open spaces, and a caring Jewish community. While spending the majority of her working career as a Wall Street economist, Sally managed to find time to coach Little League softball, volunteer with the PTA, teach Hebrew school, send holiday-related care packages to college students from her synagogue, and make meals for bereaved families. In 2001, Sally was given the opportunity to broaden her Jewish horizons outside the Westport community when she was asked to participate in a two-year-long study program sponsored by Hadassah: the Hadassah Leadership Academy. She became active in her local Westport chapter (eventually serving as both Treasurer and President), moved to the Connecticut Region board (serving as both Treasurer and President), and since 2017, has been volunteering at the National level, overseeing the annual planning and budgeting process for Regions across the country. She was recently elected to Hadassah’s National Board.

While the global reach and impact of the work Hadassah does is important, Sally found she was missing feeling connected to, and helping to serve, her Jewish community locally. Fortunately, two of her Hadassah connections—Beverly Stein and Connie Freeman—introduced her to Schoke JFS and Sally has been volunteering and getting more deeply involved ever since. She has been most drawn to the good works Schoke does with the Mobile Food Pantry and meal deliveries, but, being a “numbers person,” she is also now the Treasurer!

Sally is grateful to Schoke JFS for the many opportunities it has given her to give back in this great time of need.


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Community Service Award Recipient
Ronnie Sichel

Ronnie and her husband Steve moved to Stamford in 1974 and quickly became involved in Congregation Agudath Sholom (CAS) and the Stamford community. Ronnie's contributions to CAS, in addition to two terms on the Board, include creating an Israel Fair in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, teaching in the Hebrew school and adult ed programs, and volunteering in the gift shop. Ronnie also taught a Jewish class to the clients of Abilify (then Aid for Retarded Citizens), culminating in a Model Seder for all clients of that agency. She led Stamford’s Kadimah Chapter of AMIT for 22 years, sending over $180,000 to AMIT projects in Israel, through special events including the first city-wide Shalach Manot project in Stamford. Ronnie was among the founders of the Women’s Megilla Reading and helped institute the Women's Tefilla Group.

Ronnie and Steve opened their home every Shabbos, supporting a generation of teenagers who were growing in their observance within Judaism. Ronnie has also served on the Board of Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy, including as a Vice President. She serves on the Board and Executive Committees of Schoke JFS and has chaired multiple committees including Program, Volunteers and An Evening with Schoke JFS.

Ronnie has served on the UJF nominating committee and, together with Steve, partnered with UJF, Stamford Hospital System, and the extended Sichel family to create a Kosher Comfort Room, at Stamford Hospital, in memory of Aaron Sichel, their beloved nephew.

Ronnie’s professional career, spanning over 40 years in Education, included work as a speech/language pathologist and special service administrator. For 21 of those years, she served the City of Stamford, helping to improve the lives of children and their families.

Ronnie and Steve take great pride in their children – Rena, married to Jason Rosen and Daniel, married to Marti Davidson, and even greater pride in their three grandchildren, Benj, Charlie and Natalie.

For more information

Please contact Janet Wainright at 203-921-4161 or
jwainright@ctjfs.org