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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 21, 1986 Page 3
Temple adopts second refugee family
load of 900 Jewish refugees who
were not allowed to land any
where in 1939. The ship was
forced to return to Germany and
fueled Hitler’s propaganda that
no country wanted Jews.
“We would have been ha^py if
people of any religion had taken
in Jews,” says Schwartz, in expla
nation of The Temple’s action in
resettling families without regard
to ethnic or religious background.
He explained that this effort is
part of The Temple’s continuing
social action involvment. Unlike
the temporary night shelter, how
ever, this program actually assists
in the settlement of families.
This project, he says, makes a
statement. “We are concerned
about all refugees.” The families
come through the Refugee Spon
sorship Program, a world organ
ization of which the Greater At
lanta Christian Council is part.
The First Presbyterian Church
of Atlanta as co-sponsors will
help provide funds for the second
family. This program has nothing
to do with the sanctuary move
ment. These are legal immigrants,
approved by the State Depart
ment.
The Temple committee had
four days’ notice before begin
ning their hectic assignment of
getting eight people equipped for
a new life. Right now all of them
are working together on housing,
furnishings, food and clothes for
the family, according to Judy
Cooper.
Members Beth Povlo and her
sister Janis Kleinberger brought
their children with them to the
airport to witness the arrival and
to greet the Chanthalangsy fam
ily. Since then Bunny Merrill has
been busy arranging transporta-
See Temple, page 31.
by Carolyn Gold
They had never been on an air
plane before, but in 24 hours they
flew to Seoul, South Korea, then
to Seattle, Minneapolis, and fi
nally to Atlanta, with stop-overs
just long enough to change planes.
Their transportation was arranged
by the U.S. State Department
with airline subsidy.
Arriving at 9:30 p.m., the tra
velers were welcomed at the
Atlanta airport by nine members
of The Temple committee and by
the first adopted Laotian family.
The father of this first family and
the mother of the second are
brother and sister. So the reun
ion of the two families after a
seven-to-eight month separation
was indeed happy.
Maxwell Schwartz heads the
SS St. Louis Project program,
named to commemorate the boat
Hebrew Academy plans to honor
Kaplan’s long service to school
Count America’s many bless
ings at this Thanksgiving season
and freedom shines as the grea
test of them all. A group of
volunteers is witnessing this truth
and fulfilling its promise as they
resettle The Temple’s second
adopted refugee family.
Again the S.S. St. Louis Pro
ject Committee is taking on the
responsibility of sponsorship; this
time for a father, mother and six
children. The family arrived in
Atlanta on Nov. 6 with only the
clothes on their backs, thong
sandals on their feet and one
small box of personal posses
sions.
The Chanthalangsy family is
from Laos and escaped Commu
nists’ shots as they crossed the
Mekong River in a leaking boat,
during the dark of night. In Thai
land they lived in a refugee camp
for more than a year. When
overcrowded conditions caused
some transfers, the family was
sent to another camp in the Phil-
Scene at the airport: Maxwell Schwartz (center) with Mr. Chanthalangsy and an interpreter. Temple
representatives are in the background.
ippines. there before the Chanthalangsys
Six to eight months were spent were brought to the United States.
Sidney Kaplan will be the
honoree at the 10th annual He
brew Academy Dinner of Honor
on Sunday, Dec. 14, at the Peach
tree Plaza Hotel.
Kaplan is a past president of
the Academy board and its PTA.
It was during his term as presi
dent that the school gained ac
creditation from the Southern
Association of Colleges and
Schools.
His attachment to the Hebrew
Academy began in 1955, when he
and his wife Alice were approached
by Lila Reisman, Irving “Green-
ie” Greenberg, Alex Milt and
others, to send their oldest child
Scott to the then-fledgling school.
“We didn’t feel we were ready
to send our child to an all-day
Jewish school, but the public
school that we were going to send
Scott to was under construction
and his class was going to be held
temporarily in a train depot. We
figured that we’d send him to the
Academy for a year and then to
the new public school.”
Sidney Kaplan
“We went to visit the Academy,
which was then in the educa
tional building of the Shearith
Israel Synagogue, and were im
mediately impressed by the warm
and nurturing environment fos
tered by the teachers and the
principal, Irving Fried.”
The result of these seemingly
coincidental events was the gra
duation from the Academy of the
four Kaplan children: Scott,
Randy, Mark and Terri.
An Atlanta native, Kaplan
graduated from Emory Univer
sity and served as chancellor of
Tau Epsilon Phi Fraternity.
Currently serving as president
of Ahavath Achim Synagogue
during its Centennial Celebration,
Kaplan has chaired nearly every
committee in the synagogue. His
wife has been active in the syn
agogue’s educational program and
sisterhood.
He also served on the board of
the Atlanta Bureau of Jewish
Education, as Youth Commis
sioner for the Boy Scouts and
Cub Scouts, and for many years
coached Little League sports at
the Atlanta Jewish Community
Center.
For information and reserva
tions for the Dinner of Honor,
call the school office at 634-7388.
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