Volunteer Spotlight on: Ellen Stein!

Ellen Stein has been volunteering at the Jewish Museum of Maryland for just over 2 years.  Her original connection with the JMM began while she was still working in Baltimore County Public Schools. She worked on school curriculum with Ilene Dackman-Alon, Education Director. But when Ellen began volunteering she chose to start in the Museum Shop. She has designs on moving into the Education Department after a while, perhaps as a Docent, but until then, she is happy to enjoy herself in the shop.   While there, she sells merchandise, assists with inventory (she especially enjoys seeing new items come in), tags and shelves items, and even polishes the silver. She is happy to do anything that Esther Weiner, Shop Manager, requests.  One of her favorite outcomes of volunteering has been getting to know Esther, who Ellen describes as a wonderful multi-tasker.

Ellen Stein
Ellen Stein

As mentioned above, before volunteering at the JMM Ellen was with Baltimore County Public Schools for 32 years.  She taught kindergarten for 17 years, was a Teacher Mentor, and finished her career as a Language Resource teacher in Title 1 schools.   She knew that she wanted to get back to volunteering when she retired and is glad to fill her time at the JMM.  She thinks the Museum is a wonderful place to visit.  She especially enjoys meeting people from out of town and likes to learn about where they are from and assist them with their purchases in the shop.  A perk she enjoys are the field trips and behind-the-scenes tours that are planned specifically for the volunteers. In particular, she mentioned a visit to the National Archives (our Executive Director Marvin Pinkert’s old stomping grounds).  Also while at the museum, Ellen enjoys learning about Jewish history through attending the exhibits. She took advantage of the Project Mah Jongg exhibit and learned how to play. She is now in a regular game.

While away from the Museum, Ellen enjoys being a mother to 3 and grandmother to 4. One family is in Chicago but she was able to spend Mother’s Day with all those who live in Baltimore.  She concluded by describing her overall volunteer experience at the JMM as wonderful, and something she really enjoys. She said that all of the staff has been helpful whenever she has needed assistance.  We feel exactly the same way about her.

ilene cohenA 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.

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jewish museum of maryland Volunteers

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