Upstander Awards

Join us for our first Upstanders in Action volunteer event at the Freestore Foodbank. Bring your friends, family, or coworkers and volunteer together as we assemble food boxes for children in after-school meal programs, senior citizens, and veterans throughout the Tri-State. 

Be part of a fun, high-energy volunteer experience that makes a real difference in our community. Together, we’ll assemble more than 100 boxes of nutritious meals during each shift, helping provide food for neighbors experiencing food insecurity. Every box packed helps nourish local families, and every volunteer plays an important role. 

Participants must complete a waiver before volunteering. This event is open to volunteers ages 16 and up. Volunteers ages 13–15 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Please register by August 27 to reserve your spot. 

Join the Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law, in partnership with the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, for the Nancy & David Wolf Lectureship featuring Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and a nationally recognized leader in combating antisemitism, hate, and extremism.

Amy Spitalnick will join HHC CEO Jackie Congedo and Dr. Jack Harrison, the David and Nancy Wolf Chair in Ethics and Professional Identity at NKU’s Chase College of Law, for a conversation exploring the challenges of confronting antisemitism and extremism today. Together, they will discuss the importance of protecting democratic values and the role individuals, communities and legal institutions can play in building a more just and inclusive society.

Schedule:  

4:30-5:30 p.m.: The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center’s award-winning museum will be open for anyone who wants to come early for a tour. 

5:30-6:30 p.m.: Conversation with Amy Spitalnick, Dr. Jack Harrison and Jackie Congedo in Reakirt Auditorium. 

6:30-7:30 p.m.: Reception in the historic Rotunda with music, food, and drinks. 

Holocaust Survivor Zahava Rendler’s Story of Survival, Family, and Food

Join the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center and Cincinnati Museum Center in the crEATe Culinary Studio featuring the Kroger Food Lab for an intimate program exploring the role of food, family, and memory in the lives of Holocaust survivors. 

As part of our culinary series, Holocaust survivor Zahava Rendler will share her remarkable story of resilience and rebuilding. 

Zahava was born Golda Feuerberg in Stryi, Poland, just before the Nazi invasion. A Polish neighbor named Stachek hid her, her parents Gretel and Mendel, and about 30 other people in an underground bunker, bringing them food once a week. Zahava was only a baby, and the bunker had to remain quiet, so the adults would give Zahava sleeping pills to muffle her cries. 

After about a year in hiding, Zahava’s parents entrusted her to a Polish woman involved in the Resistance, who placed her with a Polish Catholic family in Lvov. When it became too dangerous for the family to continue hiding her, Zahava was sent to a nearby convent, where she lived under the false identity “Olga Pachulchak.” 

After the war, Zahava was reunited with her parents, who had also survived in hiding. The family later attempted to settle in Palestine but was detained by the British in a displaced persons camp on the island of Cyprus. Eventually, they were permitted to settle in Haifa, where Golda took the Hebrew name Zahava, meaning “gold.” She came to Cincinnati in 1963. 

During this special program, Zahava will reflect on her family’s story and the ways food can carry memories, traditions, and connections across generations. As we prepare recipes like a traditional poppyseed cake and a “mock” gefilte fish made with chicken, guests will explore how family recipes can preserve the stories and traditions of those who came before us. 

This culinary series is generously made possible by the generosity of Barbara Kellar. 

Save the date for our Kristallnacht commemoration on Sunday, November 8. 

Kristallnacht was a wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms that took place on November 9–10, 1938, throughout Germany, annexed Austria, and parts of Czechoslovakia. It marked a turning point in the persecution of Jewish people, as thousands were arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps solely because they were Jewish. 

Throughout the day, descendants of Holocaust survivors will share their families’ stories of Kristallnacht and its lasting impact. 

Stay tuned for more details.

Registration for the 2026-2027 Roma & Sam Kaltman Teacher Fellowship is now open!

Are you ready to join a community of educators committed to ensuring the lessons of the Holocaust inspire a new generation of upstanders? Join the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center’s prestigious cohort of teacher leaders and apply to the Roma & Sam Kaltman Teacher Fellowship today.

Cost: $100 per participant

Schedule:

Friday, November 13: 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

• Includes lunch and a Shabbat dinner in historic Union Terminal

Saturday, November 14: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

• Includes lunch

Wednesday, December 9: 4:00-5:30 PM on Zoom

• A conversation with historian Daniel Greene

Saturday, January 16: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

• Includes lunch