Since its inception in 2011, Beth Sholom Village’s The Janet Gordon Annual Mah Jongg Event and Luncheon never missed a year…until COVID-19 hit. An event that Mah Jongg playing women have looked forward to and enjoyed, it has evolved from a tournament with competitive play to a day of play with a smaller group of die-hard tournament players.
As with almost every social event, The Mah Jongg event was canceled for two years due to COVID-19. One of the two years, a virtual event (without the Mah Jongg) was held to raise money for BSV.
Excitement over holding the event again on Sunday, April 3 and bringing friends back together was hard to contain. Still, changes were made due to COVID-19. The first difficult change was to move the event off-campus and to the Hyatt Place Virginia Beach Town Center. This was done to to protect BSV’s most vulnerable population from the pandemic, as it was deemed unsafe to have more than 100 people enter the building for several hours.
“While the fantastic decorations of the past that transformed the lobby and halls of BSV were missed, the setting of the Hyatt Place at Town Center was lovely and accommodating,” says Amy Weinstein, BSV’s director of philanthropy. The Auxiliary Gift Shop set up a Pop-Up Shop in the hotel’s lobby and sold a lot of purses, dresses, and jewelry, and “we brought life-sized posters of some of our beautiful residents so players could remember the reason BSV has this fundraising event,” she says.
“We are so appreciative to the Gordon Family for their support,” says Weinstein. ”It was delightful to see so many new and old friends of Beth Sholom together. I also want to again thank our dedicated committee, without whom, this event would not be possible. Co-chairs Rachel Abraham and Dana Patish, and committee members Stephanie Banks, Lauren Barkan, Abby Friedman, Sharon Goldner, Joan Johnson, Rachel Krupnick, Rebecca Tall, Carin Simon.”
Seasoned players were able to spend time together and women new to the game formed groups and enjoyed the day.
BSV’s catering staff brought its well-known delicious food to the hotel, and attendees were excited to enjoy the stuffed mushrooms, salmon, chicken, and parfait dessert.
-Marcia Futterman Brodie
Beth Sholom Village thanks the sponsors and donors who helped make the tournament a successful day.
Luncheon Sponsor ($5,000)
Daniel and Janet* Gordon Philanthropic Fund
Year of the Tiger Sponsors ($1,000+)
APC Paper Company—ProAmpac
Altmeyer Funeral Homes
Beskin Divers Insurance Group
Buckingham Strategic Wealth
Butler Paper Recycling, Inc.
Friedman Associates
Harbor Group International
Hyatt Place Virginia Beach
Town Center
Wall, Einhorn, Chernitzer, P.C.
Table Sponsors ($300+)
Rachel & David Abraham
Auxiliary of Beth Sholom Village
Brith Sholom Center of Virginia
Karen & Mark Gilbert
Laura & Keith Goldstein
Jeri Jo & William Halprin
Dana & Larry Patish
PayDay Payroll
Strelitz International Academy
Contributing Sponsors ($150+)
Stephanie & Randall Banks
Beach Hardware
(Sharon & Mark Goldner)
Barbara Gordon
Jewish Family Service of Tidewater
Joan & Ken Johnson
Martha Kline
Tina & Doug Moses
SoupLove (Amy Markman)
Fay & Charlie Silverman
Rebecca & Jeffrey Tall
General Donation Sponsors
Elise Berkowitz
Sylvia Kaplan
Janet Kass
Emmy Lou Kreger
Elayne Littman
Marcia Lovitz
Ellen & Bryan Mesh
Shelley Saunders
*of blessed memory