Name: Rebecca Shomair

Community: NY Region (moved to San Francisco Region in May 2015)

ADL Roles:

2012- current: Founder & Chair of ADL ArtWorks (save the date for NYC event June 4)

2014 – 2015: NY Regional Board member

2014 – 2015: 2020 Member and Marketing Chair

2009 – 2015: NGP Board Member

2009 & 2010 – Imagine Gala Committee Member

2007-2008 – Glass Leadership Graduate Atlanta

 

How did you get involved in ADL?

After college, my neighbor in Atlanta was in the Glass Leadership Program. She introduced me to the organization and nominated me for the Glass class the following year. Even though she moved to DC and me to NYC, we still keep in touch are still both involved with the ADL!

What does ADL mean to you?

I grew up in a small town an hour South of Atlanta. Growing up as the ONLY Jew in the entire school system, I learned how anti-Semitic experiences were often combatted with education. My family spent a lot of time educating teachers, classrooms and friends about Judaism and Jewish holidays. When I first learned about the ADL, I was mad that I did not know about the organization earlier as the vast amount of resources for students and teachers would have been immensely useful to reference and share.

To me, the ADL is an organization that fights anti-Semitism in many ways and education is one of its strengths. Instead of staying mad, I got involved with the hope that others don’t have the same experience with anti-Semitism. The events I have supported or created such as ArtWorks have the core mission to spread awareness of the amazing work and resources from the ADL and help get others involved.

As leaders in the ADL community, how would you advise others to have a local impact in the fight against hate?

Make sure to connect with your region socially online – follow the ADL NY Region on Facebook and Twitter, as well as subscribe to the ADL blog and email lists. Personal recommendations are trusted and valued more than any other form of marketing. Have you ever thought to share on social media why you support the ADL? It is very easy to ask friends and family to read a blog, watch a video or sign-up for an event. For example, around the time of the Garner and Ferguson protest in December, I shared the Imagine video with a note about what this video means to me and the importance of the ADL during times of hate. A former colleague in North Carolina watched it and was so moved he donated to the ADL and asked how he could get involved. (Watch the video here: http://www.adl.org/imagine). I am always amazed at the wealth of resources the ADL creates to arm and educate others to combat hate. Every ADL resource that you “share”, “like” or “retweet” could help make a difference.