Fall 2022 Annual Benefit
Dear Heilicher Community,
Thank you so much to all of our guests who joined us for the Fall 2022 Annual Benefit yesterday evening. What an amazing event celebrating our honorees, Wendy Lovell-Smith and Colin Smith, and coming together as a community to support our wonderful school! Please watch the Heilicher Benefit Video for some good laughs and a reminder of what makes Heilicher so special. You may also view the photo gallery below, from the event (photos taken by Jeffrey Schmieg).
Our gala raised over $556,000 — our highest achievement ever. This included our corporate and community sponsorships, ticket sales and tribute gifts, and funds raised in the room through our live auction and fund-a-need appeal. Please see our full list of generous sponsors; we are deeply grateful for their tremendous contributions, and for the support of our entire community which helped make our event a success. We are particularly grateful to Beth El Synagogue for providing an exceptional venue, to Jill and Jon Halper/Top Ten Liquors for donating the wine and liquor, and to Lieberman Companies for lending us a variety of fun, vintage arcade games!
If you were unable to attend the event, please consider donating to our fund-a-need to support Heilicher greatest asset — our teachers. Our teachers' professional growth seeds our students’ success, and investment in teacher recruitment, retention, and career development is critical to ensuring that we will remain a school of excellence for generations to come. You can make your donation at hmjds.org/donate or contact the Heilicher office at 952.381.3500.
Thank you again for making our Heilicher community so special, and for joining with us to celebrate our school and our honorees! We are so excited about the year ahead and having more opportunities to be together.
Robyn Schein, President, Heilicher Board of Directors
Dr. Dan Ahlstrom, Head of School
In 2004, Wendy Lovell-Smith and Colin Smith walked through the doors of what would become their second home for the next 18 years. Noah, the oldest of their four children, was applying to kindergarten. The Smiths recall being warmly welcomed to the (then) Minneapolis Jewish Day School, a community that they would grow to love. Wendy had a long tenure as a member of the Heilicher Board of Trustees and subsequently served as president from 2019 to 2021. Wendy and Colin are the co-chairs of Heilicher’s endowment campaign, As They Planted for Me, and have committed to a $1 million endowment contribution to the school.
“We feel so honored and blessed that all four of our children have been given the gift of a strong Jewish education,” said Wendy and Colin. “They are proud of their heritage and stand firmly in their Jewish identity and with Jewish communities around the globe. They take the 10 core values of Heilicher to heart, especially ‘כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲרֵבִים זֶה בָּזֶה’ — ‘All Jews are responsible for one another.’ Our children stand loudly and proudly, and we have much nachas (pride) from them.”
The Smiths’ youngest child, Leah, graduated from Heilicher in June 2022. Even though they will no longer be Heilicher parents, Wendy and Colin are committed to making sure that all Jewish families in our community will have an opportunity to provide to their children a strong academic and Jewish foundation. Heilicher was thrilled to honor Wendy and Colin at our Fall 2022 Annual Benefit on Sunday, November 20, 2022.