Volunteer Spotlight On: Aileen Bormel, Museum Shop!

Aileen Bormel has been volunteering in the JMM Museum Shop for three years.  She enjoys educating the customers about the beautiful merchandise and many unique items. She occasionally ends up buying for herself too.   She began volunteering in the shop as a way to support the JMM and she appreciates the opportunity she gets to meet people from not only the Baltimore community, but all over the world.

Aileen formerly taught deaf students at the Maryland School for the Deaf in Columbia, and also in Baltimore City.  She did sign language interpreting too, mostly for children.  She is an active Hadassah member. She was recently President of the Greater Baltimore Chapter and currently sits on the National Board where she is co-chair of the Society of Major Donors.  She was previously co-chair of the National Mission to Israel and has enjoyed visiting there many times. Her husband, David works for Merrill Lynch/Bank of America. Her daughter, Allison lives and works in DC as the communications director for a US Congressman from the East Bay of San Francisco.  Her son, Eric lives and works in New York City as an investment banker.

Recently a visitor from Indonesia asked Aileen why our shop was selling a handcrafted box in the shape of a pyramid. The customer had no idea that Jews had any connection with Egypt.  Aileen was delighted to share information regarding Judaism, the tie with Egypt, and teach this particular visitor about something that most visitors to the Museum take for granted.

Aileen likes that her volunteer position is easy and not stressful, like many other facets of life can be. She does however wish that there were more customers in the shop and reminds us that one of the benefits of JMM membership is a 10% discount on all merchandise.

A blog post by Volunteer Coordinator Ilene Cohen. The first Monday(ish) of every month she will be highlighting one of our fantastic JMM volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering with the JMM, drop her an email at icohen@jewishmuseummd.org or call 410-732-6402 x217! You can also get more information about volunteering at the Museum here.