Alliance program to celebrate heroines

Rachel Sonntag-Bloom

On March 8,  in “IsraAID and Women’s Day,” Rachael Sonntag-Bloom virtually will share her experiences as a woman working in the humanitarian-aid sector and her insights into the many issues that disproportionately affect women and girls during humanitarian crises.           

International Women’s Day is also on March 8, one day after Purim, which commemorates the courage of a woman, Esther, who saved the Jewish people. The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island this year is honoring heroines, such as Sonntag-Bloom and her colleagues.

Through the lens of some of IsraAID’s global missions in Ukraine, South Sudan, Kenya and Colombia, Sonntag-Bloom will explore the challenges women and girls face in refugee and displacement situations, emergency-response programming and water-resource management, and the interventions focused on supporting their psychological, emotional and social needs.

The program will also feature stories from IsraAID staff members, volunteers and program beneficiaries in navigating the seemingly insurmountable challenges women and girls face, as well as stories of hope and resilience in rebuilding their lives, communities and futures together.

Sonntag-Bloom joined IsraAID in 2019 as the U.S. resource development director, based in Los Angeles. She traveled to the organization’s Guatemala field mission following the eruption of Volcan de Fuego in 2018, and was a member of IsraAID’s U.S. emergency response to COVID-19, supporting communities that faced food insecurity. Sonntag-Bloom has over a decade of experience working in the nonprofit sector at communal, medical and philanthropic organizations.

Prior to joining IsraAID, Sonntag-Bloom worked in various development and community-engagement roles, including at Jewish World Watch and the USC Keck School of Medicine.

The free program is part of the Israeli Culture Series, which usually takes place on the second Wednesday of each month. The program will be held on Wednesday, March 8, at 7 p.m. on Zoom. It will be hosted by Elihay Skital, Rhode Island’s shaliach (Israeli emissary). Register at jewishallianceri.org/ics-march.

For more information about the program, contact Skital at 401-421-4111 or eskital@jewishallianceri.org.

LARRY KATZ is the director of Jewish life and learning at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.