A HALF CENTURY CAREER AS A VOLUNTEER
Blanche Meisel Celebrates 50 Years as a Pro Bono Professional

/Nevada News Articles/ - LAS VEGAS, NV, April 25, 2006 - Back in the 1950s, when many executive wives were willing to be homemakers and ladies who lunch, Blanche Meisel began a career. But, rather than using her skill and knowledge to become a doctor, lawyer or teacher, Meisel became a professional volunteer.

It started, innocently enough, as little more than an evening out... a respite for the young mother of three in Newark, New Jersey. That moment - joining the local Hadassah - snowballed to increasing involvement in her community and congregation, as Blanche sought knowledge and understanding through her Judaism, to guide raising a family (by then four kids) through those turbulent times in our country's history.

Meisel's mantra, "follow your instincts, and learn" served her well through the next years - from being president of her synagogue Sisterhood, to heading the Northern New Jersey Women's League for Conservative Judaism and that organization's national Youth chairmanship. Blanche was pressed into speaking, writing papers and giving workshops.

Each door led to another, never regretting that she moved beyond her education and training as a dietician and nutritionist for this new role as a professional volunteer. As her sphere of influence spread from north Jersey to cities across America, then around the world, Meisel remembers, "I had no formal goal... just followed my heart and used my intellect."

Soviet Jewry became her issue... traveling to Russia and bringing back information and requests from refuseniks in the former Soviet Union. Then on to leadership in the Israel bond Development Office. Then, supporting the Jewish Theological Seminary, where Meisel attended the Women's League Institute.

When she and husband Phil retired to Las Vegas, just a few years ago, Blanche Meisel might have opted to take it easy. Ironically, she is busier than ever.

Meisel continues her work for the Women's League National Torah Fund, as Patron Society chair, and is a member of the Rabbinical School Board of Overseers, nationwide. Locally, in Las Vegas, Blanche became president of Temple Beth Sholom Women's League, and sits on that Temple's Board of Directors, while continuing to serve on numerous volunteer boards and committees across America. In her spare time, Blanche Meisel spends several hours each week as a docent, volunteer coordinator and board member for the Las Vegas Art Museum.

In 1988, her proudest moment, Blanche Meisel received the National Leadership Award, an honorary degree awarded by the Jewish Theological Seminary, and was inducted into that institution's highly respected Society of Fellows. "I look at the cap and gown everyday, and I'm still amazed by all of it," Meisel muses.

Blanche Meisel is clearly still a woman on a mission... a dedicated, motivated, career professional community leader, celebrating 50 years of volunteerism for causes that matter.

And, she's not ready to stop anytime soon.

Press Release Contact Information:

Barbara Kenig
In The Public Eye
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Las Vegas, Nevada
USA
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