HIAS Pennsylvania 2021 Annual Meeting Honorees

Mindy Silver

“I don’t think there’s another organization that’s more passionate about the work that they do, whether that’s staff or volunteer. It’s an amazing community.”

Mindy has been volunteering with HIAS PA for more than five years; she first learned about the organization through friends, and then set up a donation drive for HIAS PA with the social action committee at her synagogue, Old York Road-Temple Beth Am. Mindy jumped right in, helping our volunteers at Main Line Reform sort donations, and then got her congregation to adopt a family from El Salvador through HIAS PA’s Philly Neighbor program. Mindy herself provided weekly support to the family. She also facilitated a “Mitzvah Day” program at her synagogue where Hebrew school students sourced donations and then created welcome baskets for new immigrants.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Mindy organized a coat drive, and during the pandemic, Mindy has worked tirelessly as a delivery driver, transporting baby bundles and laptops to families all around the Greater Philadelphia area – including a delivery to a woman who lived on a mushroom farm!

Mindy has also been involved in supporting HIAS PA’s efforts with Driving PA Forward and Driver’s Licenses for All.

Rebecca Benarroch

Rebecca started volunteering with HIAS Pennsylvania in the fall of 2018 by collaborating on a resource for job-seekers to help with job interviews and the entire job search and employment process.

As someone who has been welcomed into many other cultures in other countries, Rebecca believes that welcoming immigrants is incredibly important in the United States. She began volunteering with HIAS Pennsylvania because she felt like the rhetoric and policies coming out of the government at the time were antithetical to how we as a people should be.

Before the pandemic, Rebecca was a Philly Neighbor to a family of five, and really enjoyed working on employment, school, and English-language learning, and generally hanging out and playing cards with the family!

Rebecca was also a Philly Neighbor to a refugee who needed help adapting to her job in childcare and education. During the pandemic, she pivoted to buying and delivering groceries to clients in the Greater Philadelphia area.