Jewish Film Festival, A Bake Sale, & Meet Some of Our Team!

It's crazy that there's only one day left until spring break! It's been a quiet past couple of weeks at Hillel, but we have so many exciting things coming up after break. Myself and the other social media team members have been working on initiatives to help grow our presence in the community and we can't wait to implement them! Speaking of the team, we're now posting bios about ourselves every week and here's Jaime's in case ya missed it.

Name: Jaime Lee Simmons

Major: Business Administration concentrating in Marketing and Entrepreneurship with a minor in Computer Science

Home: A small peninsula known as Hull or "Nantasket Beach" just south of Boston, MA

Why She loves Hillel: "I got involved in Hillel because I fell in love with the Jewish community at UVM after going on birthright this summer (apply today @ israeloutdoors.com, you won't regret it). One place you can always find me is Shabbat dinner every Friday at 7PM. Great food and even better friends!"

Hillel Job Position: Social Media Project Manager and Graphic Design Intern

Fun Fact: Yesterday was my 21st birthday!!

Film Festival

Last Thursday we showed Mel Brooke's History of the World Part I, followed by a discussion. There are two more awesome films coming up and of course free food.

Food Updates

There was a bakesale in the Davis Center featuring delicious homemade treats from students and we did a great job fundraising. Shabbat was a comfort food theme, featuring mac and cheese. I attended a slightly bigger "MicroShabbat" hosted at a student's house with homemade food for 14 people. It was a great way to bring together new people in a smaller setting.

Jewish Author Spotlight

The last movie at the film festival is This is Where I Leave You, which is based around a Jewish family coming home to sit shiva for their father. It's written by one of my favorite authors Jonathan Tropper and you can check out a complete review of the book on my own blog (shameless self promotion) here. The characters are so relatable and you have just enough time to finish the book before you view it so you can see them come to life! His other books are equally as engaging if you're looking for something to read over break.

That's all for this week! Hillel has two trips going on over spring break--one to Berlin and one in Vermont for an Alternative Spring Break, so look forward to seeing lots of pics from that!

Welcome to Hillel!

If you're reading this blog, then the name "Hillel"must be at least somewhat familiar. We are a nonprofit organization on the UVM campus that encompasses over 10 different organizations and connects with over 1,000 Jewish students and their friends at UVM. This blog is going to be designed as a weekly update to tell you highlights of events and fun things Hillel has done the past week! We also want to interact with you, so please comment and tell us what you loved and some suggestions for the future.

Meet Our Social Media Team

Brett, Jaime, Mallory (not pictured but in London), and Rachel (myself) are your #UVMHillel team. We've been revamping social media this semester, and there are a lot more exciting things to come! Our main goals are to help Hillel engage with the UVM and Burlington communities and encourage people to get involved.

Yoga Classes

Need a de-stresser during the week? Every Tuesday at the Hillel Center, there's a free yoga class from 4-5 PM. We have 6 mats if you don't have one of your own to bring.

Challah for Hunger

A profile on the club was featured on Her Campus UVM. They bake every Wednesday night to provide the delicious challah we eat at Shabbat every Friday. For more questions, contact: vermont@challahforhunger.org.

Microshabbats

Instead of hosting a big Shabbat for everyone, about 10 people hosted Shabbats for over 120 people with food from either City Market, Domino's, or Price Chopper.