As soon as Eileen Kupersmith heard about Integrate for Good, she was an immediate supporter! Eileen has been instrumental in establishing the Sleeping Mat Project at our first faith community, Congregation Or Hadash in Fort Washington.
Authenticity is when your actions match your values…consistently. This is Eileen Kupersmith. As an Early Childhood Educator and Director for decades, Eileen has always created spaces for children of all abilities to grow and learn together. Creating inclusive communities and opening her congregation to welcome individuals with autism or intellectual disabilities to partner in service activities to help repair the world are just a few examples of what Eileen does because of her “why.” Eileen’s “why” is our “why.” Why do we expand opportunities and open doors and embrace people’s abilities? Because it aligns with our values, it is the right thing to do and it strengthens the community for all of us, of every faith, when we leave no one on the outside looking in and wanting “to play.”
Eileen stepped up to launch her own Sleeping Mat group for a few months until we could arrange our schedule to join her. She designed beautiful flyers, attended another Integrate for Good event in the community to learn more, and arranged for us to join her congregation, Or Hadash, for an exciting Martin Luther King Day of Service in January of this year. Individuals of all abilities attend the group at Or Hadash, and return again and again to build relationships while making a difference for people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders in our community.
In recognition of her collaboration to establish our very first Integrate for Good faith community partnership, and for putting her values into action, it is an incredible honor to recognize Eileen Kupersmith and Or Hadash synagogue with a 2019 Integrate for Good Community Hero award.