Carole Simon remembers when she was young that her father was involved in Federation and was always talking about its importance. In high school, she gathered with other students and walked door to door soliciting assigned homes.
After college and getting married, Simon became involved in the first Young Women’s Council for Education offered by the Women’s Division (Now Women’s Philanthropy). “I met wonderful women who are still friends of mine today,” she says. “I loved meeting business and professional women.”
Simon went on to become chair for campaign in the Women’s Division. After retiring as a social worker, she was campaign chair and then co-chair for the Business and Professional Women’s Division of Federation. “It’s been in my blood since I was born,” Simon says.
However, the commitment to her Judaism deepened further when Simon traveled to Eastern Europe with Rabbi Carnie Rose of Congregation B’nai Amoona. “I found a lot of people there who didn’t know anything about the Holocaust or who denied their country’s culpability,” she says. “That experience game me more reason to feel this commitment to my Jewish heritage.”
Because of her experiences and deep philanthropic roots of both her and her husband’s families, Simon feels it is important to be involved and committed to Jewish Federation.