By the MHWOW Team Where in the world is your MHWOW staff member? The North American MHWOW team has been hopping and bopping all over the United States (don’t worry – Jessie Higgs will be visiting some international hosts!) to spend some time with you. Check out our WOW-worthy highlights. Leah was the first one of us to take a trip to see our hosts and stopped in Atlanta…

“I loved our intimate Shabbat dinner at Gabrielle Adler’s apartment in Atlanta. Our Atlanta hosts’ diversity of program ideas was really impressive. Sarah Lashinksy wants to make terrariums for Tu B’Shvat, Rachel Bukowitz plans to explore the outdoors, Deborah Adams is interested in doing art programs, and Nick Contino wants to create a Dungeons and Dragons-style Jewish board game. These are just a few examples of the great ideas from our Atlanta hosts, and I’m excited to continue supporting them.”

Then she paid South Florida a visit just a couple months later!

“Our MHWOW Havdallah in South Florida was filled with meaningful Jewish ritual, creative brainstorming, and LOTS of sushi! We talked about engaging new people that aren’t yet part of their MHWOW communities, creating unique experiences that offer something different than the other young adult Jewish programs in the area, and more. The South Florida MHWOW community wants to give back to MHWOW by mentoring new hosts. If you’re interested in partnering with one of these hosts, please let me know!”

Liza spent a couple days in Boston and New York City this spring!

“I was so lucky to visit cities where I was able to spend time with both community builders and fellow Moishe House staff! I had not met Shaina, our Eastern Regional Manager and brand new MHWOW host (!!!), prior to my visit to Boston so I loved spending time with her and showing her my alma mater’s book store. In New York, I got to spend time with Michele, our Greater New York Regional Manager, and Lisa, our Camp Nai Nai Nai director. We may or may not have had ice cream two days in a row. In spending time with staff and community builders, I got a 360 degree experience of Moishe House because I got to see all my favorite people.”

Josh headed up north to San Francisco!

“I had the opportunity to join MHWOW Hosts and Moishe House San Francisco – Nob Hill on a beautiful hike at a city park in San Francisco! I also got a chance to go to a Jewish Learning session in a park in Oakland with some current hosts and Moishe House alumni. The highlight of my trip by far was being able to visit Urban Adamah with one of our MHWOW Hosts who works there and got a tour of the facility and learned about all the work they do.”

Alyssa was able to explore something old and something new.

“I was so fortunate to be able to go to Phoenix for the first time where our hosts were the most hospitable. I got to try so many cool restaurants, which as a foodie was a high priority, and went on two hikes. Shout out to Samantha Bayer who took me to Dreamy Draw and it was indeed DREAMY!”

“Just a few weeks ago, I got to go back to my second home in the Mitten (a.k.a. Michigan) and spend time with hosts in both Ann Arbor and Detroit. So many of our hosts out there are friends of mine from when I lived there because the Jewish community is the smallest world ever. In Ann Arbor we did a deep dive into how our hosts can supplement the programming that Jewish organizations are already doing and in Detroit we partnered with Reboot to chat about how food plays a role in our MHWOW programs. Thank you all for making it feel like I never left!”

Where should we go next?! Alyssa, Liza, Josh, Leah and Ziva are planning more trips for 2019 and we want to hear from you as to where we should stop. Let us know at withoutwalls@memglobal.org!