Welcome to Hadassah Great Plains! We are a far-flung region spanning many states in the Midwest. We operate as the umbrella covering our many chapters spread out from Ohio to Kansas and Kentucky to Wisconsin. I am honored to serve as Region President. Our region has a rich history of amazing women and engaging programming. The Great Plains grew out of multiple regions that joined together to become stronger. You may have known parts of us previously as Illinois-Indiana, Missouri River Valley, Great Lakes or Central States.
When we can, we gather in person in our communities to learn, advocate and have fun while supporting the mission of Hadassah. With the help of Zoom, we now have programming online and available to the entire region. Our virtual programs have included book clubs, cooking demonstrations, storytelling, mindfulness, health education, advocacy and more. Eventually we will be back to meeting in person, but for now we are enjoying broadening our scope by visiting our far-flung Great Plains communities online.
When we can gather in person, in addition to hosting our local programming, we join together as a region or even multiple regions, to celebrate Hadassah and feel inspired by the work of our organization. Our region conventions and Geographic Area conferences are full of varied programming and high-caliber speakers.
Hadassah is an active and thriving organization. If you aren’t already receiving our updates and newsletters, please share your email address with our office at GreatPlains@hadassah.org in order to be added to our mailing list so you can be kept up to date with what’s happening in the Great Plains and beyond with our weekly Here & Now newsletter.
Although it may feel like much of what we do has been on hold for the past year, Hadassah remains active in everything we do. In Israel, our hospitals have continued to provide care for anyone who needs it, regardless of religion or ethnicity. We are also involved in cutting-edge research including innovative treatments for COVID-19 as well as other diseases and health issues. Our Youth Aliyah villages have not stopped supporting at-risk youth. In the United States, our non-partisan lobbying efforts support our policy statements combating antisemitism and advocating for a strong Israel, women’s health equality, and civil and human rights.
In 2020, Hadassah was a leader in getting the Never Again Education Act supporting Holocaust education across the country passed in Congress. Our programming is very strong, and we have been educating our membership, encouraging them to live a healthy lifestyle with our Every Move Counts program, among others, along with raising scholarship funds for youth in America to build stronger ties to Israel through Young Judaea.
We may not be traveling there right now, but we have a great lineup of Hadassah Israel trips planned when travel becomes possible again. I was fortunate enough to participate in a Hadassah trip to Israel several years ago. It wasn’t my first trip to Israel, but it allowed me to reconnect with the country in new and deeper ways. While there, I not only saw fabulous tourist sites that visitors to Israel always want to see (like the Wall, Masada and the Dead Sea), I also toured our hospitals, saw the famous Chagall windows there, visited Hadassah Neurim, one of our Youth Aliyah villages, met our Young Judaeans on their gap year program and visited Henrietta Szold’s gravesite. This up-close Hadassah tour of Israel solidified my passion and lifelong support of Hadassah.
I welcome you to explore what Hadassah has to offer. We are a vibrant organization making a difference in the world, and we would love to have you join us in Hadassah Great Plains.
Warm regards,
Elaine