Annual Awards

2020 Award Ceremony and Annual Meeting

Sunday, August 30, 2020 | 12:00pm – 1:30pm | Via Zoom

2020 Award Recipients

Susan M. Breall is a judge in the Superior Court for the City and County of San Francisco. Currently, she presides over dependency matters in the Unified Family Court. She has been a Superior Court Judge for 19 years….. MORE

Hannah G. Solomon Award – Hon. Susan M. Breall, Judge of the Superior Court of California, City & County of San Francisco

Paula Pretlow has served as a Trustee of the Weinberg Foundation since January of 2018. Ms. Pretlow has built a career helping company leaders maximize shareholder and stakeholder value—negotiating hundreds of millions in revenue across her career…. MORE

Outstanding Humanitarian Award – Paula Pretlow, Trustee of the Weinberg Foundation

Deborah Lopez has served as the Vice-President of NCJW for the last 6 years bringing decades of experience in the non-profit Jewish world to our Board….MORE

Outstanding Volunteer Award – Deborah Lopez, Vice President of NCJW San Francisco

Assemblymember David Chiu, serving in his third term in the California State Legislature,represents the 17th Assembly District, which encompasses a half million constituents who live in eastern San Francisco…. MORE

Keynote Speaker – Assemblymember David Chiu, District 17

2019 Annual Awards Luncheon

Sunday, June 2, 2019 | Presidio Golf & Concordia Club

2019 Award Recipients

Sally Lieber is a proven leader with the vision and courage to take on the tough issues affecting our community, and is effective in getting real results… MORE

Hannah G. Solomon Award – Sally Lieber, State Assemblymember, Speaker Pro Tempore (Ret.)

Jeff Rosen is a nationally-recognized leader in criminal justice reform. Since 2011, Mr. Rosen has overseen the largest prosecutor’s office north of Los Angeles, serving a population of almost two million… MORE

Outstanding advocate for human rights & justice award & keynote speaker – Jeff Rosen, Santa Clara County District Attorney

Ravit Baer assumed the role of Deputy Consul General in August, 2015. In her position, Ravit heads the Political and Public Diplomacy departments of the Consulate… MORE

Inspiring Partnership Award – Ravit Baer, Deputy Consul General Of Israel

Sandra Gordon was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Skokie, Illinois. The examples of her parents were strong influences on her and on her dedication to service… MORE

Outstanding Volunteer Award – Sandra Gordon, Ncjw Life Member

2018 Annual Awards Luncheon

Sunday, May 6, 2018 | Presidio Golf & Concordia Club

2018 Award Recipients

Judge Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee was the first Asian American woman Presiding Judge in San Francisco history. A single mother who raised two sons in San Francisco, she is committed to providing equal access to the court for all citizens and ensuring equal justice… MORE

Hannah G. Solomon Award – Honorable Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee, Judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court

Abby Snay began her career with JVS in 1975 and served as Assistant Director before becoming Executive Director of JVS in 1984. Since then, she has become JVS’s Chief Executive Officer… MORE

Inspiring Leadership Award – ABBY SNAY, Chief Executive of Jewish Vocational Services

Dr. Gena Castro Rodriguez is a licensed marriage and family
therapist. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology from Sacramento State
University, a Masters in Counseling Psychology from the University of San
Francisco… MORE

Outstanding Advocate for Human Dignity and Freedom Award and Keynote speaker – Dr. Gena Castro Rodriguez, Chief of Victim services and parallel justice programs of the office of the San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon

Patsy Greenstein has been an active volunteer in non-profits since coming to the Bay Area in 1973. Over the years she has served in several leadership positions… MORE

Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award – Patsy Greenstein, Vice President Of The National Council Of Jewish Women San Francisco

2017 Annual Awards Luncheon

June 11, 2017 | Presidio Golf & Concordia Club, San Francisco

Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, 11th Senate District, was elected to the California Senate in 2008. During his tenure in the Legislature, Senator Leno has fought for better schools and access to higher education, foster youth, a cleaner and sustainable environment, affordable health care, improved transportation and renewable energy, safer streets and equal rights for all Californians… MORE

Keynote Speaker

2017 Award Recipients

Amy Rassen is a recognized leader in non-profit management with extensive experience developing and overseeing highly complex non-profit organizations. … MORE

Hannah G. Solomon Award – Amy RASSEN

Lynn Burrows Bunim currently serves as Director – Special Projects for Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP). Following a forty-year career in government and community relations at “the phone company,” Lynn brought her coalition building and public policy experience to WIPP. … MORE

Inspiring Leadership Award – LYNN BUNIM

Linda Kurtz is a member of NCJW SF Section since 1982 and recipient of the 2012 Hannah G. Solomon Award. She specialized in issues of family safety working with Shalom Bayit and JFCS Task Force on Domestic Violence, and California Family Action… MORE

Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award – Linda KURTZ

Dena Gardi is a SF native and lives in San Francisco with her husband, John, three children and a big, happy dog. She is a graduate of SF State University and holds an elementary teaching credential. She taught briefly, then, entered the corporate world… MORE

Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award – Dena GARDI

2016 Annual Awards Luncheon

May 15, 2016 | Presidio Golf & Concordia Club, San Francisco

Aaron Peskin, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, representing District 3.

Keynote Speaker

2016 Award Recipients

Sylvia Yee is Vice President of programs at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, which works to advance rights and create opportunities so that all people can live with dignity… MORE

Hannah G. Solomon Award – Sylvia Yee

JaMel Perkins has been a community volunteer and activist for the past 40 years. Since moving to California, she has been directly involved with the issue of domestic violence and has spent the past four years focusing on human trafficking… MORE

Outstanding Advocate for Human Dignity & Freedom Award – JaMel Perkins

Robin Brasso is an experienced educator and advocate for equality in education. Robin dedicated 37 years of teaching at three inner city middle schools. In addition to her impressive career in education, she is being recognized for her extraordinary community service… MORE

Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award – Robin Brasso

2015 Awards Luncheon, Board Installation & Annual Meeting

May 31, 2015 | Presidio Golf & Concordia Club

2015 Award Recipients

Thank you to everyone who attended our 2015 Awards Luncheon last Sunday! We honored our award recipients for their outstanding achievements and celebrated our 115 years of compassionate and courageous community service!

The Presidio Golf Club was packed with over 100 guests, among them were leaders of our partnering community-based organizations, city agency representatives, community advocates, and local legislators. Congressman Michael Honda and Supervisor Jane Kim sent congratulatory letters on the occasion of our celebration. Senator Mark Leno honored our award recipients with special certificates of recognition.

Rabbi Doug Kahn’s highly inspirational and uplifting Keynote address was momentous! You can see it attached HERE.

To top off our event we presented our guests with a copy of the brilliant NCJW-SF 115-year history book authored by Victoria Cooper.

We congratulate our officers and directors on their installation and look forward to a very successful term of our newly elected Board.

Thank you to all of our fantastic sponsors and everyone in attendance!

2014 Luncheon Awards and Annual Meeting

Sunday, June 15, 2014 | Presidio Golf Club

Local legislators, city and consular officials, community activists, and NCJW friends attended our annual membership meeting to honor the NCJWSF 2014 Award Recipients:

Senator Mark Leno – Hannah G. Solomon Award
Jerilyn Gelt – Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award
Theresa Sparks – Outstanding Advocate for Human Rights Award

Supervisor Scott Weiner presented the awards and delivered a key speech. Congratulatory addresses were made by Rabbi Doug Kahn, JCRC’s Executive Director; Becky Buckwald, New Israel Fund’s Executive Director; Linda Janourova-Tang, Vice Consul General of the Czech Republic; Nancy Goldberg, JFCS’s Board Member and SFCAHT Co-Chair; and Randi Fields, Director of Bay Area Jewish Coalition for Literacy. Guests were entertained by live classical music.

PRESS RELEASE | PROGRAM

2013 Annual Awards Luncheon and Installation of Officers and Directors

June 30, 2013 | Presidio Golf Club

Featured Speaker: Dr. Andy David – Consul General of Israel

2013 Award Recipients:

Nancy Goldberg – Hannah G. Solomon Award for extraordinary community involvement and action
Emma Mayerson – Outstanding Advocate for Social Change Award
Emily Murase, Ph.D. – Outstanding Advocate for Women’s Rights
Sue Warburg – Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award