What do the 911 emergency-call service, the Pap smear, “Sesame Street” and the white stripe on the right side of the road have in common?
None would have gotten off the ground without the help of philanthropists. That was one of the tidbits Stephen Mark Dobbs, a San Francisco expert in the Jewish foundation world, shared with 84 young adults.
It wasn’t just the pizza and Caesar salad that brought the well-dressed crowd — most of whom came straight from work, briefcases in tow — to the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation’s boardroom. The Wednesday evening get-together was part of Club Fed, a five-session mini-course designed to welcome young adults into the Jewish community and get them involved.
Sponsored by the Young Adults Division of the JCF, Club Fed was the brainchild of Lisa Brown of Los Altos. She had attended a similar program, sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, where she met her husband. Brown, who moved to the Bay Area in 1997, envisioned Club Fed as a sort of crash course in leadership development, and soon after recruited a steering committee.
While YAD has all kinds of activities — many social, many volunteer-oriented — for the 21 to 40 age group, Club Fed is geared specifically toward educating people about the JCF and the agencies it supports.
“We’re trying to figure out why we’re here and how we can make a difference in the world,” said Brown.
Club Fed is now seeking participants for its fifth year.
A few years ago, when Jennifer Yetwin Kabat moved to San Francisco from Boston, she says she “didn’t know a soul, at least in the Jewish community.” But an ad for Club Fed in the then-Jewish Bulletin caught her eye. “It looked fun, but it was also substantive,” she said. “It wasn’t just a bar night. It seemed like a perfect fit.”
She signed up, attending all five sessions. And she married someone she met in there. Last year, the assistant director of admissions at Boalt Hall School of Law was still deeply involved, as program co-chair.
The other co-chair, Kevin Waldman, also had no Jewish involvement when he moved to San Francisco from New Orleans. In addition to co-chairing Club Fed last year, he served on the Jewish Community Relations Council board, as a JCF fellow at Brandeis Hillel Day School and as a mentor through JFCS.
“Club Fed started it all,” said Waldman, a commercial real estate broker. “Not only did I make great friends, but I learned about myself and how to be a Jewish citizen.
“Club Fed is a great way to dip your toe in the water and find out what’s out there.”
As Kabat and Waldman pointed out, the Jewish community can be somewhat of a mystery to a newcomer.
Club Fed, however, brings representatives from various organizations to sessions that cover Israel, Jewish identity and philanthropy. A day is spent visiting various Jewish agencies, to get an up-close look at what they do.
That day was definitely a highlight for Tara Nemeth, who participated last year.
Although the purchasing director and Berkeley resident grew up in the Bay Area, she had practically no exposure to the Jewish community. “I was blown away by that, the resources and things I had never known about,” she said.
The next Club Fed begins in February. Information: www.yad.org.