Looking for Jewish Community Heroes

The Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley has launched the third annual Jewish Community Hero Awards, aimed at connecting people through social media to recognize the selflessness and courage of those who are helping their communities through volunteer service.

Silicon Valley's nominee is Eleanor Dickman, honored for her selfless devotion to community and Jewish life. To read more about Dickman or to vote for her in this campaign, visit her personal hero page here.

The Jewish Community Heroes initiative, created by The Jewish Federations of North America, is part of a broad effort to promote public service in the Silicon Valley area. To build on the success of last year’s inaugural program, the largest Jewish social-networking campaign to-date, the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley is part of a massive online campaign in conjunction with Blue State Digital, connecting with people through social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

More than 50 Federations are supporting the initiative, which will honor one Jewish Community Hero of the Year and four finalists. Each finalist will receive a Heroes grant—$25,000 for the winner—to support their projects, which can range from running charity bake sales or low-income literacy projects to helping neighborhood development programs or mobilizing people around a good cause. Any Canadian or American resident at least 13 years of age is eligible to be nominated through Sept. 30.

This year, voting will take place until Nov. 10, and 10 semifinalists will be announced from each of the categories—individuals and professionals—on Nov. 15. A panel of judges, heroes in their own right, will select these outstanding citizens from among the 20 nominees who receive the most online support.

The Jewish Federations will recognize the 2011 honorees and unveil the Jewish Community Hero of the Year at a special event in December.

Last year’s Jewish Community Hero of the Year was Jay Feinberg, founder of the lifesaving Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation’s registry. According to Feinberg, “The $25,000 grant I received has thus far enabled my organization to fund bone marrow testing (cheek swabs) that led to matches for five people in need of a transplant. Since donors remain in the registry for many years, we know that dozens of additional matches are coming!” Feinberg will also be serving as a judge this year.

This year, in addition to the Jewish Community Hero of the Year, JFNA will also honor a Federation Hero, who will be selected from the pool of heroes nominees taking a leading role in a project the Jewish Federation movement supports.

During the 2009 and 2010 campaigns, Jewish Community Heroes attracted nearly a million online votes for several hundred worthy nominees. Website traffic for Heroes was just more than two million page views last year.

To learn more and to nominate and vote for your Jewish Community Hero for 2011, visit the Jewish Community Heroes Web site at www.jewishcommunityheroes.org.  Click here to watch videos from the Jewish Community Hero Awards. http://www.youtube.com/jcommunityheroes