Faces

Hurricane news

Annette Dobbs of San Francisco, was relieved when she got a call from her son, Greg Dobbs, a news reporter for a Colorado-based cable TV station, letting her know he was safe at home after traveling to New Orleans and Biloxi, Miss., to cover the disaster. He and his crew, like many journalists, rescued dozens of people on the boat they were using. Dobbs reports that even though her son has covered tragedies of all sorts, he said he has never seen anything this bad.

On a happier note, Annette will leave after Yom Kippur for her 65th trip to Israel. She'll visit the many friends she's made, then join the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation's 20th anniversary celebration of the group's Israel Amuta in November.




Losing sleep for a cause

Though Ross McGowan gets up at 2 a.m. to do KTVU's "Mornings on Two," he agreed to open Dear Sudan, Love Marin's recent update on the genocide in Darfur, featuring Congress' Africa expert New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne and North Bay Rep. Lynn Woolsey. When the congressional delegation was running late, the committee — Susan Cohen, Liz Arnold, Gerri Miller, Debby Rose, Gayle Donsky, Lorraine Harris, Joanne Saxe, Wyna Barron and I — were ready to punt, but the gracious McGowan hung out and settled for less sleep.

More than 200 people came to the event in late August — before Hurricane Katrina — at Marin City's St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. Judi Penso and the Marin Committee of the Jewish Community Relations Council and Elizabeth Friedman Branoff and American Jewish World Service back up this grass-roots group. The group will hold a benefit dinner for Darfur and Katrina victims 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, in Mill Valley. (Details at www.dearsudanlovemarin.org.)




High Holy Day connections

Rabbi Henry Shreibman of San Rafael touts himself as blowing the meanest shofar in town. He gets help from his 4 1/2-foot long Sephardic shofar he rescued from a Jerusalem tourist trap 25 years ago. He'll be demonstrating at the "creative and short" Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Reconstructionist services he'll lead in San Francisco and Marin. For details, e-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Another option ... contact Jewish Community Information and Referral for news about services of any denomination, and other High Holy Day events. Volunteers are standing by (as they say) at (415) 777-4545 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).




Short shorts

Urban world-beat musician Hyim has the first track on KFOG's "Local Scene" CD. You can catch him and his band, the Fat Foakland Orchestra, 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, at the Little Fox, Redwood City — after Shabbat services, notes his publicist Linda Yelnick. Hyim teaches teens at Lafayette's Temple Isaiah religious school when he's not on the road. For more about him, visit www.hyimvibe.com.

Arlene Burbank, new marketing director for the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay, writes that Nicki Gilbert and Lisa Sadikman, promise a "full day of fun" at the group's end of summer PicnicFest on Sunday, Sept. 18, at Joaquin Miller Park, Oakland. Get the details at www.jfed.org.

Marinites Ellen Kahn, Joanne Greene and Laura Talmas will hike Mt. Tamalpais on Saturday, Sept. 17, to raise money for the Breast Cancer Fund and breast cancer prevention ... Mazel tov to Eva Seligman Kennard, new director of the S.F.-based federation's Sonoma region.




Suzan Berns, a freelance writer and publicist, welcomes your submissions of cute, poignant or informational anecdotes about you and your organizations at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).