Volunteer Spotlight on: Laurie Weitz, Front Desk!

Laurie Weitz has been volunteering as a Front Desk Receptionist at the JMM for 2 years.  She knew Volunteer Coordinator, Ilene Cohen through Hadassah and the Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation of the Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, who convinced her of the need for more JMM volunteers.  It was not a hard sell, she lives in Federal Hill and likes to support downtown institutions and she had recently enjoyed a Hadassah sponsored trip to the Museum.

Laurie Weitz
Laurie Weitz

In the past Laurie has run businesses and worked at various salaried jobs but she is most proud of being a professional and passionate volunteer.  She appreciates knowing that she is making a difference in the lives of others.  Outside of her volunteer work, she enjoys being active and in particular likes to swim, hike, bike, snow ski, and walk.  She also enjoys traveling. Her favorite destination used to be France but now she ranks Spain, South America and Israel at the top of her list.  She also loved a recent trip to Budapest, Prague and Vienna.  She has visited many of the U.S. National Parks and intends to visit more.

She has been very happy volunteering at the JMM.  She commented on how great James McVay, our security guard is (he works closely with the Front Desk Receptionist).  She particularly enjoys the people she meets at the Museum, especially the student groups and the senior groups. She likes seeing how interested they are in learning about the history of Jews in Maryland.  She shared a recent instance when someone learned about corned beef and potato latkes on tour and then wanted to try them out for themselves (she suggested one of the nearby delicatessens). Her “stand-out” experience was with a group of Asian visitors who were in Baltimore for a wedding.  They barely spoke English but she convinced them to go on the tour of our historic synagogues.  They enjoyed the tour so much that they made it a point to come back and report to Laurie how good it was.  She also thinks that our exhibits are “fabulous” and really enjoyed Chosen Food: Cuisine, Culture and American Jewish Identity and Project Mah Jongg.

Laurie has been very happy with her volunteer experience at the JMM and looks forward to continuing. We look forward to having her as a member of our volunteer corps for a good long while and hope she will convince some of her friends to do so as well.

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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