In honor of its “bat mitzvah year,” the Hadassah Foundation celebrated its 13th birthday by creating a mini-grant program that would benefit 13 organizations across the United States.
Hillel at Ohio University was one of 13 organizations chosen to receive a $500 grant.
The Hadassah Foundation — established by Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America — has awarded grants to larger nonprofit organizations but never to smaller, individual organizations, said Rabbi Ellen Flax, the executive director of the Hadassah Foundation.
“We were trying to figure out some way to celebrate our bat mitzvah year, so we created this mini-grant program to help young Jewish groups that don’t normally have pots of money available to them,” Flax said.
Groups throughout the United States were asked to send in grant proposals highlighting their plan to encourage the wellbeing of young Jewish women in their communities.
The foundation and its board members determined the 13 recipients based on the type of program proposed and who would be reaching out to different constituencies, Flax said.
Hillel at OU proposed a plan to conduct a personal safety and sexual assault prevention workshop.
Rabbi Danielle Leshaw, Hillel’s executive director, and Lauren Goldberg, Hillel’s office administrator, sat down with two student leaders during winter and spring quarters last year to discuss the grant idea.
“We discussed our hopes and plans to partner with the Women’s Center and develop more programming for women at OU surrounding issues that affect all of us, like sexual assault,” Goldberg said.
The idea is to provide classes at Hillel, open to anyone interested in learning more about personal safety and assault prevention, Leshaw added.
“We want to build the importance of safety across campus,” she said.
Goldberg said receiving the grant was flattering and exciting.
“It’s definitely a need in Athens to bring attention to issues surrounding the safety of women, so it’s empowering to know that we can move forward with the help of the foundation,” she said.
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