Name: Stephanie Reed

Position of Interest: Social Action Chair

            Hi everyone! I’m Stephanie Reed, a current sophomore, and am interested in serving as your social action chair (again!). Why do I want to continue serving as Towson Hillel’s social action chair? I want to because social action is what I do! I think it’s very important to be involved in the community through service and activism. Whether it’s going to volunteer at a local food bank or participating in a rally for a certain cause, as well as spreading awareness on various topics that are important (i.e. hunger, poverty, genocide, human rights, etc.). Serving on board this coming year I hope to plan events such as the one’s listed above, as well as partnering with Circle K or Habitat for Humanity and participate in one of their service projects, along with partnering with other campus organizations to help spread awareness (i.e. one of the African American groups for genocide).  Along with these ideas I hope to start a social action committee in which anyone who is interested in social action could be a part of and would have the opportunity to give their ideas/input on what kind of social action project they would like to see/be a part in!

            This past year I helped organize volunteer opportunities to the Ronald McDonald House, Levindale (Geriatric Home), Moveable Feast (a local food bank), as well as an awareness program on hunger. Coming up there will be an awareness program on diseases (AIDS, Cancers, etc. and how to prevent them, treat them…), along with another trip to the Ronald McDonald House and a poker tournament to help raise money for the House of Ruth (a home for women going through domestic abuse. This event will also spread awareness about domestic violence/sexual abuse). I hope to keep in touch with the organizations listed above and continue having volunteer opportunities with them in the future.

            Last year as a freshman I became active in Hillel as soon as possible by becoming an active member of FYSH, attending/participating in Shabbat services, and by joining Tigers for Israel (Towson University’s pro-Israel organization, for those of you who didn’t know, or are interested!). This year, as previously stated, I served as the social action chair. This past week for spring break I went with about 8 Towson students (along with about 20 other students from the Baltimore area, plus 100 or so more students from Hillel’s across the country) to Mississippi to help with hurricane relief, through Hillel’s alternative spring break (which I recommend to everyone!).

            What everything said, I hope to serve as your social action chair once again!

“First it is necessary to stand on your own two feet. But the minute a man finds himself in that position, the next thing he should do is reach out his arms.” – Kristin Hunter.

"You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." - Martin Luther King