We salute Drew University and the Polish Culture Club for being wonderful hosts in Madison, New Jersey this past week. Nicole Kuruszko and Sophia Chen did an incredible job of organizing and providing a beautiful venue. The Shabbat dinner with the Drew Hillel group was a special experience. Thanks Nicole for bringing us to your area of the world.

Carol Brodsky and the Drew University Center for Holocaust Studies hosted a performance on Thursday. We send a big thanks to Carol and all those involved in this outstanding conference. We shared the stage with some wonderful presenters.

Many comments are coming in from New Jersey:

Amazing performance from such a dedicated group.

I have waited for a long time to see ‘Life in a Jar,’ it was worth the wait.

Irena Sendler’s story is one of heroic action and was almost lost to history, thank you to the Kansas kids and their teacher.

I love the idea of not only the Irena Sendler project, but the unsung hero stories which are being developed at your Center.

It was FANTASTIC to see you and the troop perform- a real dream come true. Thanks for your continuing efforts.

Two weeks ago, the 2010 Irena Sendler Award winner from Poland visited the Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott. She was selected as a 2013 Lowell Milken Center Fellow. The Fellows are an incredible group of educators. Marzanna Pogorzelska is making a tremendous difference in teaching human rights, Holocaust education and unsung hero stories in Poland. She was an inspiration to everyone, with great ideas for the Center. She will be collaborating on projects during the coming year and future years. Marzanna has been recognized with numerous awards in Europe, and now in the United States.

Life in a Jar was performed at Homestead High School in Ft. Wayne, IN by McCutcheon High School Drama students, a collaborative cast of the program, on October 25th. The performance was sponsored by Homestead High School and the Ft. Wayne Jewish Federation. A wonderful fellowship dinner preceded the performance and future possible collaborations were discussed between Homestead and McCutcheon. A special thanks to Vicky Malooley and Jon Baker, Homestead’s drama and history teachers, for their warm hospitality. The McCutcheon students were grateful that they could help “repair the world” and share Irena’s story to the Ft. Wayne community. Thanks to McCutcheon teacher, Stella Schafer, for directing this collaborative group.