Volunteer Spotlight on: Wendy Davis!
Our volunteer Wendy Davis feels that she’s had a connection to the Jewish Museum of Maryland since her father’s early involvement in the Jewish Historical Society of Maryland. She often thought about becoming involved herself, and as she tapered off her hours as a Speech Language Pathologist with Baltimore schools, she finally found the chance. Her love of history was influential in her decision and she became a Docent at the JMM in the summer of 2012.
Wendy’s favorite part of being a JMM docent is engaging with the visitors and learning from them. She especially likes talking with people who have personal memories of the area and incorporating those stories into her tours. She fondly recalls one woman who said that as a young girl she attended services in B’nai Israel and vividly remembered that the ceiling was painted blue. While leading a gentleman from India through the Voice of Lombard Street exhibit, he was excited to share his childhood memory of watching his mother sew on the same model Singer sewing machine that is displayed in the exhibit.
While away from the JMM Wendy loves to travel. She is leaving on a trip to Thailand and Vietnam next week. She likes going places that teach about different cultures and/or places with family connections. She is a volunteer at Chizuk Amuno Congregation as a member of the gabbai team who coordinates aliyot during Shabbat and holiday services. And, she has discovered that another benefit of retirement is that she has the time to cook new recipes and really enjoys it. She finds new recipes online and on TV. She’s willing to try new things but generally follows the recipe. Her favorite cooking show is America’s Test Kitchen.
As Wendy continues as a docent at the JMM she looks forward to meeting more people from all over the world – China, India and Duluth, MN are just three places she remembers that visitors traveled from. She says the stories she heard from each are just as exotic as the next.
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.