I was nominated as a Jewish Community Hero as part of a competition run by the Jewish Community Federations of North America. The contestants need votes to win and I have been asking people to vote athttp://www.jewishcommunityheroes.org/nominees/profile/jodi-samuels. Winning means $25,000 for my organization, JICNY (Jewish International Connection of New York).
It’s been a long time since I engaged in a popularity contest and it made me think back to my high school years. Oh boy, was it competitive to be in the “in crowd”. I started wondering about some of the people I used to know. Thanks to Facebook, I did some snooping about. It was interesting to see who was married, who had kids and where people were living. It struck me how irrelevant all that rivalry was. It was no guarantee of anything. As moms, I am sure we have witnessed or will witness these rivalries with our daughters and will have to use our experiences (both good and bad) to help guide them through these sticky social situations.
I sincerely hope that all my efforts to have my friends, family and contacts vote for me in this campaign will in fact help my nonprofit, JICNY www.jicny.com win $25,000. Hopefully, all of my connections will pay off. It would be great if the people I’ve met throughout my life–whether we were good friends or just acquaintances–end up being an asset in helping me help others.
Metroimmas: How have your connections helped you achieve a goal? How have you helped others reach their goals?
Originally published: October 10, 2010