Veteran volunteer
Ellen Alberstat of Redwood City spends most Thursdays passing out sandwiches, playing bingo and otherwise making life better for the veterans in Palo Alto and Menlo Park. She was recognized for her dedication earlier this month with a special award at the national convention of the Veterans Administration Volunteer Services in San Antonio.
Alberstat says she began volunteering with VAVS because her brother is a veteran. She’s been a member for seven years, doing whatever she can to help. That includes dressing up in a clown suit upon occasion to entertain the veterans; she does this as a member of a group with the unusual name of Cooties. No one knows why it’s called that, she says.
Alberstat has another steady volunteer gig, too — at j., where she handles miscellaneous administrative tasks. “I like helping,” she explains. About the VAVS award: She received a certificate and $20 in cash. “I might frame them both,” she says.
Twice famous
Asher King Abramson of Tiburon had his “15 minutes of fame” twice recently — once on Israeli TV singing with his a cappella group the Scattertones, and the second time on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart at a Quidditch tournament, shooting questions to Stewart’s guest, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe.
For non-Potter fans, Quidditch is a sport played in all the Potter movies and, says Abramson, who was playing in an international tournament, it’s the fastest-growing sport in America. You can see a clip of the “interview” on “The Daily Show” website.
About the Israeli TV moment … Abramson’s group was part of a show called “Living in LaLa Land,” shot in Los Angeles where he attends UCLA and sings bass in the award-winning Scattertones. The storyline featured singers learning to sing a cappella and competing for a record contract. By the way, the Scattertones were runners-up in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella this past year, notes proud papa Don Abramson.
Jews and farming
Marinites can get fruits and veggies fresh from the garden through the Osher Marin JCC’s new project, Hazon CSA (community-supported agriculture). Joanne Greene, director of the Koret Taube Center for Jewish Peoplehood at the OMJCC, reports that the JCC is partnering with Andrew Brait of Full Belly Farm to make it happen. She says you can “meet the farmer” along with Helene Marshall of Marshall Honey Farm at an apple and honey tasting Thursday, Sept. 22. Visit www.marinjcc.org for info, including educational events tying sustainability and Jewish learning. P.S. Not only is Brait a Jewish farmer, he graduated from Jewish day school.
Short shorts
San Francisco Congregation Adath Israel will dedicate the Brenna Berger Adath Israel Preschool this Sunday, Sept. 18 in memory of Berger, who passed away after a long illness at age 41 last November. “Her parents, Robert and Esther Berger, and her sister, Melany Berger, have used Brenna’s memory as an impetus to help support the next generation of Jewish children,” writes Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz … Alyson Jacobs of San Francisco is teaching at Sunnyvale’s South Peninsula Hebrew Day School. She received the placement through Yeshiva University’s Institute for University–School Partnership, which places recent college grads in communities across the country … Correction to an item about Phil’s Sliders in the Aug. 19 Faces: Hugh Groman’s dad, Phil, owned New York West deli in Walnut Creek.