APRIL 2 • 2020 | 41
Community Foundation of
Greater Phoenix, she also
enlisted help from the Jewish
Federation of Greater Phoenix
and the Valley of the Sun Jewish
Community Center.
“I want young people to
understand this history before
[those who hate] can get to
them,
” said Ginn, who created
committees to handle produc-
tion-associated responsibilities,
which included 50 Jewish and
non-Jewish volunteers.
One committee found props
locally to avoid costs related to
transporting stage settings from
Michigan. Because of the intent
of the project, businesses cut
prices, materials were donated
and found objects were adapted.
Cindy and John Millikin of
Scottsdale had been affected by
seeing the Anne Frank house in
Amsterdam and offered to help.
She worked with props, and he
ushered. She also took pictures
at performances.
Peg and Jeff Thoren of
Chandler, Arizona, also wanted
to help because of their visit to
the Frank home. They turned to
the Salvation Army for period
pieces and donated a grandfa-
ther’
s chest of drawers.
“This effort created such
a sense of community,
” Peg
Thoren said.
By chance, Judy Laufer’
s
mother Katie Egett and moth-
er-in-law Pearl Laufer, in their
90s, were visiting from Canada
during performance week, and
she added them to the program.
“They didn’
t want to see the
play because they lived through
those times, but they answered
student questions,
” said Laufer,
a play volunteer, author of
children’
s books about the
Holocaust and a speaker for the
Jewish Book Council. “In intro-
ducing them, I explained how
my mother survived Auschwitz
and my mother-in-law survived
being hidden in Poland.
“Some youngsters didn’
t real-
ize the Holocaust was about the
Jews,
” Laufer said.
Kerry Grimes, a teacher at
Arizona College Preparatory-
Oakland, took 303 eighth grad-
ers to the production.
“Though the students knew
how the play was going to end
due to prior classroom instruc-
tion, the actors were able to
successfully convey the tension
building within the annex and
held their attention from begin-
ning to end,
” Grimes said.
Jamie Bradley brought 87
students from the Dobson
Academy in Chandler.
“The eighth graders had
learned about World War II
in social studies, and this play
showed my students real strug-
gles Jewish people faced,
” she
said.
“Seeing [the play] and read-
ing about [the Holocaust] are
both worthy; each adds to the
education of our children.
”
Lisa Duncan brought 30
students from Montessori
Day Schools in Phoenix and
Chandler.
“They commented about how
physically close they had to be
and how they had no privacy,
”
she said. “
As early adolescents,
they value their privacy, and
Anne’
s loss of that was hard for
them to see.
”
Ginn was especially touched
to hear about students at a
Native American school selling
cookies to raise money to cover
the total ticket price although
donor funding was available.
Funds to continue the program
were raised during an evening
performance for adults hon-
oring Lanny Lahr, a former
Detroiter who gave much help
to this year’
s initiative.
“For these Native American
youngsters, going to live theater
was an event,
” Ginn said. “In
their own way, they were among
all the people who put so much
into getting everything done.
The people kept me going and
will keep me going as we work
toward more productions.
”
L E A R N
M O R E
AT
A FH U .
O R G / W H E AT
Pr
of
essor
Zvi
Pel
eg
and
hi
s
team
at
the
Hebr
ew
Uni
-
ver
si
ty
of
Jer
usal
em
devel
oped
a
new
cul
ti
var
of
wheat
that
i
s
30%
mor
e
water
ef
f
i
ci
ent
than
the
standar
d,
domesti
c
cr
op
today
.
By
cr
ossbr
eedi
ng
domesti
c
cr
ops
wi
th
wi
l
d
wheat,
we
’ve
shown
that
i
t’s
possi
bl
e
to
gr
ow
mor
e
wi
th
l
ess.
Si
nce
1925,
Amer
i
can
Fr
i
ends
of
the
Hebr
ew
Uni
ver
si
ty
has
connected
the
passi
ons
of
Amer
i
cans
wi
th
i
nnovati
on
at
the
Hebr
ew
Uni
ver
si
ty.
KNOWLEDGE
MOVES
US.
What
has
growing
food
in
a
desert
taught
us
about
surviving
droughts?
JUDITH
SHENKMAN
Mi
dwest
Regi
on
Executi
ve
Di
r
ector
T:
312.329.0332
E:
jshenkman@af
hu.or
g
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