He’s an American Jewish singer, entertainer, writer, composer and leader of the Airmont Shul in New York; the one and only. Lipa Schmeltzer. If you don’t know the name yet, you certainly will very ​very soon. Lipa is a headliner within Hasidic as well as modern Jewish communities worldwide, and known as the “Jewish Elvis” and the “Lady Gaga of Hasidic music”. By the year 2014, Lipa had released an astonishing 13 solo albums. After his wedding, with no formal musical training, Schmeltzer tried to find work as a wedding entertainer. He began performing at weddings and bar mitzvahs in the Haredi Jewish communities of upstate New York and Brooklyn. After a while, he earned a reputation as a natural performer, and began releasing recordings and videos. Shortly after being married, Schmeltzer released his first album entitled, Nor B'Simcha, which translates to, Only Be Happy. Schmeltzer attended Rockland Community College, a two-year school which is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. He pursued a dual associate’s degree in performing arts and liberal arts.

​Among the courses Schmeltzer completed in college were acting, dance, musical theater, English, diversity, psychology and pluralism.
Lipa Schmeltzer will be staring in this years FREE Yiddish Concert in the Park at Cain Park on June 26th.

For more details on the Yiddish Concert in the Park, click HERE.

​Smiling faces and warm music filled the banquet hall as the 2016 Singing Angels Reward Banquet came underway on Wednesday, May 18th at the Masonic Auditorium. This year marked the seventh year that the Workmen’s Circle Educational Center has had the privilege of sponsoring an award at the Angel’s Banquet. The ‘Better World Award’ was developed seven years ago as a way to spotlight the achievements of a select few individuals in our community who set an example through volunteerism, community service and kindheartedness. These actions spread love and hope to our community and to the world and has a tendency to not only positively affect the lives of those less fortunate, but also encourages others to do the same. The award is presented in the form of a certificate, a glass plaque, and a $50 scholarship funded by our Better World group, which was formed by the Workmen’s Circle Educational Center’s Youth’ social action committee. As an additional

This month, we are pleased to welcome a new staff member to our organization to fill the role of Executive Director. Matt Greminger, a lifelong member of the Workmen’s Circle Ohio District, has come aboard to help the organization grow into the modern world. A South Euclid resident, small business owner and community activist, Matt Greminger has a plethora of experience in developing programs that promote growth, a large network of business and organizational leaders in our community and a knack for modernization and technology. This will undoubtedly lead to much needed growth within our organization, more support within our community as well as many new affiliations that will benefit our community as well as our current and new members.

Dear Friends,
We are excited to relaunch the newsletter for the Workmen’s Circle Ohio District. Communication with our members and others interested in our activities is vitally important. We now have several volunteers who took time to clean up our mailing records, collected email addresses and drafted the content of this first newsletter, one of many to follow. Our goal is to send these out once per month. You can help us to save trees and postage by sending us your email address to receive the newsletter electronically.

Workmen’s Circle Ohio District is active-you’ll read about our programming and our plans in this issue-and we’d like your help. With our Klezmer Orchestra, Holiday cultural programming, upcoming Yiddish Concert in the Park, Mitzvah Food Pantry, Cemetery management and plans for new activities there are many ways that you can help. So, read about what we’re doing– and if you see anything that you’d like to help with, give us a call, or send an email.
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You can read about our strategic planning efforts, and new activities proposed by the volunteer participants. We have a number of dates to save– including our upcoming fundraising auction. So enjoy, and join us in 2016, un shenere und besere velt (for a better and more beautiful world).
 
a sheynem dank
zayt gezunt,
 
Jack Greminger
President, Board of Directors

​Friends,
Over the past year, the WCOD Board and staff, joined by a handful of volunteers, have engaged in a strategic planning process. A special thanks to Sandra Losik who provided extensive volunteer support for our strategic planning efforts.
 
As a result, the following were identified ad priorities going forward:

Over the remaining nine (9) months of 2016, the WCOD Strategic Planning participants agreed to:
 
· Launch or expand at least nine (9) WCOD initiatives tied to the strategic planning priorities
· Identify at least two (2) volunteers for active planning/implementing of each initiative
· Raise at least $2,000.00
· Create a plan to build WCOD to a sustainable, staffed organization and determine options if not achieved
 
Some specific activities that volunteers are leading-and we’d like your help-send us a note or give us a call to help:
 
-Plant sale fundraiser
-Schmooze Café-informal setting where people can share refreshments and enjoy Yiddish music
-Yiddish cooking classes
-Improving WCOD online presence-for raising funds, promoting activities and building connections.
-Several yearly dances for folks of all ages
 -Live Auction/Fundraiser
-Lecture Series
-Reverse Raffle
-Learning Yiddish with Songs
-Newsletters
-Yiddish Talks
-Holiday Programs
-Plant Sale
-Seder Dinner
-Yiddish Speakers

​Easy ways to raise money for WCOD online
 
There are a few quick and easy ways for you to raise needed money for WCOD while you work or play online. In this issue, we feature how doing simple web searches can bring in funds for WCOD at Goodsearch.com.
Website: http://www.goodsearch.com
 
Description: Goodsearch is a serviceof Goodshop, which provides online shopping deals and makes donations to nonprofits for every purchase you make. Goodshop is connected with over 114,000 nonprofits and schools, and WCOD is one of them. You have the option of registering with Goodshop to keep track of your purchases and donations. You also can simply use the Goodsearch search tool, which-like Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines-allows you to look for what you need online. By selecting WCOD, for every search you do, WCOD gets a small donation.
 
What to do:
1) Go to www.goodsearch.com
2) At the top of the screen, select “How it works”, then “Support a Cause”
3) When the screen appears with “Who do you want to help?” type “Workmen’s Circle” in the search box.
4) Select “Workmen’s Circle Ohio District” (second listing)
5) A confirmation message screen appears: “Great choice! You are now supporting Workmen’s Circle Ohio District”. You have the option to formally register with Goodshop for other benefits, including shopping deals, or you can return to www.goodsearch.com without registering.
6) Use Goodsearch when you are looking up information online. When you return to  www.goodsearch.com , you’ll notice “You’re supporting: Workmen’s Circle Ohio District”. You can also see how much has been raised next to “Cause total”-WCOD gets $0.01 for every search, and a donation for purchases via Goodshop that select WCOD.
Happy searching!