Jewish Heritage Committee Awards dinner
Tikkun olam — Hebrew for “repairing the world” — was the theme for the UFT Jewish Heritage Committee Awards dinner for a second straight year. The event, which was held at Russo’s on the Bay in Queens on Dec. 5, was “joyous and festive, with the spirit of unionism and repair of the world infused throughout,” said Jason Goldberg, the committee chair. UFT President Michael Mulgrew received the committee’s Tikkun Olam Award, while Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz was given the Public Service Award. Mara Baboff, a special education teacher at the John F. Kennedy Jr. School in Queens, was named Teacher of the Year. “I have and continue to get up every day to do something I love for a purpose and a true passion to make a direct impact in the lives of students with disabilities,” Baboff said in her acceptance speech. “I get to be the one in their lives who tells them their voices matter and that they can do anything they put their minds to.”
