Five Honored For Work Assisting Immigrants & Asylum Seekers

Award-winning actress, director, producer and social justice advocate Gina Belafonte will be the guest speaker at a ceremony hosted by the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center honoring five people for their work in assisting immigrants and asylum seekers.

The honorees — Susan Auerbach, Karen Gross, Sherri Hauer, Martha Ruffman and Bill Sparks — will share the first annual Marv Gross Social Justice Award, named for former Union Station Family Services Executive Director Rabbi Marvin Gross, who died at the age of 72 in November 2019.

The group organized community programs with “dreamers,” students who came to the U.S. as minors under temporary residency provided by the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act, and are now being threatened with deportation. Group members also helped raise funds for legal-aid services and direct donations of money and household items for families in need in Southern California.

Two of the recipients traveled to the ICE Processing Center in Adelanto to personally see the conditions of refugees and report back. One of them took an unaccompanied immigrant child from Mexico into her home while he was waiting to be reunited with his family. The group is already at work organizing a community event on the continuing refugee crisis to take place in March.

Each year, winners of the award will receive $500 to go to their charity of choice. In addition, the names of winners will be inscribed on a plaque attached to a stone sculpture created by temple member Brian Mark. 

This year’s award will be presented at the temple’s annual Martin Luther King Shabbat Service at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15. 

As part of the commemoration of King’s legacy, the Social Justice Committee welcomes Belafonte, daughter of legendary activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte, who is the executive director of Sankofa, a social justice organization that educates, motivates and activates artists in the service of grassroots movements and equitable change. 

Bellafonte will take questions from the audience. 

To register to receive a Zoom link for this program send an email to sjcpjtc@gmail.com and put MLK Shabbat in the subject line.