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September-October 2007 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 3<br />
What’s<br />
HAPPENING<br />
ARTHUR BLANK, MICHAEL VICK,<br />
AND JEWISH LAW. We attended Atlanta<br />
Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s July 24 press<br />
conference on the Vick dog-fighting kerfuffle<br />
and can tell you that he said all the right<br />
things, although many of them never got<br />
reported in the press. He stressed how much<br />
he loves dogs and hates dog fighting and<br />
other cruelty to animals, which took some<br />
courage, since his star quarterback had just<br />
been accused of doing terribly cruel things<br />
to dogs.<br />
Although Arthur had a ten-year, $130million<br />
contract with him, he clearly distanced<br />
himself from Vick. This did not<br />
please some of his fans, but was the right<br />
thing to do, and we congratulate Arthur on<br />
the integrity he showed early on in this crisis<br />
for his<br />
team.<br />
Maybe<br />
he will even<br />
help support<br />
legislation to<br />
be introduced<br />
next year to<br />
strengthen<br />
Georgia’s<br />
laws against<br />
dog fighting.<br />
Amidst<br />
all this<br />
Atlanta Falcons owner<br />
Arthur Blank<br />
uproar, we<br />
are proud to<br />
note that<br />
Judaism has strong laws and teachings forbidding<br />
cruelty to animals, and even the Ten<br />
Commandments require kindness to creatures<br />
in our care, mandating that they, too,<br />
be allowed a day of rest on Shabbat.<br />
RENAISSANCE WOMAN ANN TITEL-<br />
MAN. Our “Most Interesting Person” this<br />
month is the always delightful, strikingly<br />
beautiful, and elegantly glamorous Ann<br />
Titelman—fashion model; commercial realtor;<br />
bond broker; art and classical music aficionada;<br />
web entrepreneur; founder of the<br />
Concorde Group, a brokerage firm for tenants<br />
specializing in leasing—and full-time<br />
animal lover and rescuer.<br />
Ann’s family founded the famous<br />
Puritan Sportswear company and moved<br />
here from Pennsylvania a few years back.<br />
At Emory, Ann majored in anthropology<br />
and business, with a minor in French, and<br />
she has had an exciting and successful<br />
career in real estate and bonds. She’s even<br />
dated real estate tycoon and U.S. News &<br />
World Report owner Mort Zuckerman, the<br />
lucky guy.<br />
Ann also has a heart of gold. After<br />
Hurricane Katrina left tens of thousands of<br />
pet dogs and cats stranded in New Orleans,<br />
BY<br />
<strong>The</strong> multi-talented<br />
Ann Titelman<br />
Reg<br />
Regenstein<br />
many trapped<br />
in their aband<br />
o n e d<br />
homes, Ann<br />
spent almost<br />
three months<br />
there, wearing<br />
wading<br />
b o o t s<br />
(designer, of<br />
course) up to<br />
her hips;<br />
breaking<br />
down doors<br />
with axes<br />
and crowbars;<br />
wading<br />
through filthy water; rescuing, feeding, and<br />
rehabilitating stranded pets; and getting one<br />
or two hours sleep a night.<br />
One of her rescued cats, a veterinarian<br />
told her, had only about a ten percent<br />
chance of survival, but now is her “angel in<br />
heaven”—happily living with Ann in her<br />
home.<br />
Ann is very private, and the only reason<br />
she is letting us write about her is to plug<br />
her animal rescue group, Camp Rescue,<br />
with which she now spends much of her<br />
time. As long as there are animals that need<br />
help, her business ventures will have to<br />
share her valuable time.<br />
Check out her group at www.camprescue.org,<br />
and contact them if you’d like to<br />
get involved. Just getting to meet Ann<br />
would make all your effort worthwhile.<br />
Ann is an amazing person—she told us<br />
that once, in Africa, she ate a peanut butter<br />
and jelly sandwich while hanging from a<br />
tree limb in Kenya, but that’s for another<br />
column.<br />
A NIGHT IN BARCELONA. If you can’t<br />
take a trip to Spain this year, the next best<br />
thing is the William Breman <strong>Jewish</strong> Home’s<br />
upcoming gala, “A Night in Barcelona,”<br />
November 17, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta.<br />
Celebrating the romance of Spain, the gala<br />
will feature stirring flamenco dancers, classical<br />
Spanish guitar, a mime performance,<br />
singers, a dance band, a European-style<br />
market, fabulous food prepared by Chef<br />
Billy Skiber of the Grand Hyatt Atlanta,<br />
plus live and silent auctions.<br />
<strong>The</strong> gala honors two of our community’s<br />
most dedicated and respected members,<br />
Sandy London<br />
S a n d y<br />
London and<br />
F r e d<br />
Halperin,<br />
who volunteer<br />
for the<br />
home on an<br />
almost daily<br />
basis.<br />
Publicity<br />
Chair<br />
Randi Levy,<br />
of Resume-<br />
Works (more<br />
about her<br />
later), promises “a sensory feast, with the<br />
heady scent of blooms wafting through the<br />
outdoor<br />
European<br />
market, full<br />
of unique<br />
items…..<strong>The</strong><br />
evening’s<br />
excitement<br />
builds, as the<br />
exquisite aromas<br />
and delicious<br />
tastes<br />
of our culinaryextrava-<br />
Fred Halperin<br />
ganza are<br />
unveiled.”<br />
We can hard-<br />
ly wait. Hasta la vista!<br />
<strong>The</strong> muy sympatica, bonita Co-Chair<br />
Janet Selig says, “<strong>The</strong> 2007 Fall Golden<br />
Gala promises to be a most unique and<br />
exciting celebration,” with a live auction<br />
that includes a brand-new 2008 ES 350<br />
Lexus and a silent auction featuring swanky<br />
dinners and trips.<br />
For complete info on the gala, contact<br />
Adria Wiggins at the <strong>Jewish</strong> Home, 404-<br />
351-8410.<br />
To everyone involved in this wonderful<br />
evening, we offer congratulations and<br />
muchas gracias for all your hard work.<br />
HELPING ISRAEL’S DISABLED. No<br />
group does more good work or is more<br />
deserving of our support than the Israel<br />
Sport Center for the Disabled, which helps<br />
rehabilitate disabled Israeli kids, wounded<br />
soldiers, and others.<br />
Executive Director David Koren was in<br />
town a few days ago, meeting with some<br />
Atlanta Friends of the Center—including<br />
Mark Euster, Lois and Larry Frank, Beverly<br />
Greenwald, and Lori Halpern at the lovely,<br />
woods-surrounded home of Marcia and<br />
Michael Schwarz.<br />
Right now, the center serves 550 kids,<br />
teaching them swimming, table tennis, and<br />
wheelchair basketball.<br />
As David says, it’s a wonderful feeling<br />
to see the kids go from total helplessness to<br />
being useful members of society; many<br />
have even won numerous competitions in<br />
tournaments around the world.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Friends of the Center in Atlanta are<br />
encouraging kids who get bar/bas mitzvahed<br />
to take on the center as a project, especially<br />
in helping them purchase wheelchairs.<br />
For information on how to contribute<br />
and help out, contact Marcia and<br />
Michael at msmrs@mindspring.com.<br />
From October 14-17, the center is sponsoring<br />
“Good Wheel 2007,” a four-day,<br />
265-mile bike ride, through the lovely<br />
scenery of the Galilee and the Golan, to<br />
support the ISCD. For details, contact<br />
info@iscd.com, or visit<br />
http://bikeride.iscd.com.<br />
SENIOR CITIZENS’ BEST FRIENDS. Jill<br />
Berry and Jade Sykes have for years been<br />
making life more enjoyable for our senior<br />
citizens, entertaining them during the holidays,<br />
providing them with gifts, and spending<br />
time with folks who sometimes get<br />
lonely from a lack of visitors or family. <strong>The</strong><br />
mother-daughter team is so beautiful, just<br />
seeing and being with them would be<br />
enough to cheer up anyone. It sure lifts our<br />
spirits.<br />
Recently, Jill and Jade helped organize a<br />
cocktail party at the magnificent home of<br />
two of <strong>Buckhead</strong>’s most gracious and<br />
charming hosts, Danielle Berry and Mark<br />
Squillante. <strong>The</strong> party benefited Santa for<br />
Seniors, which gathers gifts all year long, to<br />
be delivered to seniors during the winter<br />
holidays. Some 150 hungry, schmoozing,<br />
gift-bearing guests showed up, and it was a<br />
delightful evening.<br />
“Senior citizens are probably our loneliest<br />
and least considered group,”<br />
Chairperson Jill Filler Saul Berry explained.<br />
“A little bitty gift makes them smile like the<br />
days when they were young.”<br />
Reg with Jade Sykes (left) and Jill<br />
Berry<br />
Santa for Seniors, a program of Senior<br />
Citizen Services of Metropolitan Atlanta<br />
(which is probably best known for its Meals<br />
on Wheels program), is collecting new,<br />
unwrapped “senior-friendly” items, such as<br />
large-print books, bath or personal hygiene<br />
products, small blankets, slip-resistant slippers,<br />
personal fans, flashlights, and stationery.<br />
Items can be dropped off at SCS,<br />
1705 Commerce Drive NW, between 9:00<br />
a.m.-5:00 p.m. For more information, contact<br />
Steve Hargrove at hargrove@scsatl.org<br />
or 404-605-8450, or visit www.scsatl.org.<br />
MISS AMERICAN PIE OUT IN PAPER-<br />
BACK. Margaret Sartor’s acclaimed book<br />
about growing up in Louisiana in the 1970s,<br />
Miss American Pie, is just out in paperback.<br />
Better get one—or several for gifts—before<br />
they sell out.<br />
<strong>The</strong> New York Times and Washington<br />
Post bestseller was included in O, <strong>The</strong><br />
Oprah Magazine’s “What to read this summer”;<br />
the Chicago Tribune said it was “the<br />
best book of the year”; and, of course, we<br />
here at <strong>The</strong> JG gave it our highest praise,<br />
which we’re sure helped it soar to the top.<br />
See HAPPENING, page 4