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The David Labkovski Project’s annual Scholar’s Event is our main fundraising event of the year, raising funds for our innovative, project-based Holocaust education programs.
Claire Sarnowski as our 2023 scholar, and spoke about her own experience bearing witness to history. We also honored our Legacy of Hope recipients, as well as our Courage to Educate Award recipients and Leadership in Holocaust Education Award recipient.
Our online auction is a key part of the DLP Scholar’s Event and featured 50 prizes!
Claire Sarnowski led the charge to require mandatory Holocaust and genocide education in Oregon. Her passion stemmed from meeting Holocaust survivor Alter Wiener in 2014 when she was just nine years old. Wiener had a dream that all students be required to study the Holocaust, lest it be forgotten, and this dream inspired Claire to make it happen in her home state. She and Wiener both testified in front of the Oregon State Legislature in support of a law mandating Holocaust education in all Oregon schools. In July 2019, Senate Bill 664, which passed with unanimous votes, was signed. Claire is chronicling their journey in her memoir, due out next year. She hopes that her story inspires young people to learn, get involved, and be accepting toward others. Claire has since joined STAND, a student-led movement against mass atrocities, and has lobbied in Washington D.C. Claire is currently a freshman at Boston University, where she is studying at Kilachand Honors College and Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
DLP Board Member
As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Holocaust education is a very important cause to Beverly. Since joining the DLP Board in 2016, Beverly has been involved in raising funds at the annual auction which supports DLP’s mission. Beverly is a graduate of UC Davis, holds a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA, and is an Independent College Counselor. Beverly and her husband Mark, live in the Los Angeles area, and are the parents of three young adults.
DLP Board Member
Debra grew up in the Conejo Valley, just outside of Los Angeles, and after years in the San Fernando Valley, and Scottsdale, Arizona, returned to the Conejo with her husband, Jay, to raise their son. She has shared the skills used in her administrative career with numerous charitable, school, and sports organizations.
Debra served on the Board of Temple Etz Chaim, in Thousand Oaks, and has coordinated their semi-annual Blood Drives for 20 years. She also serves on the Board of Remember Us, The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project.
Jennifer Lopata (2022)
Lisa Lainer-Fagan (2021)
Jeffrey Kobulnick (2020)
Connie Marco (2019)
Gabby Vanderlaan and Joshua Shane (2018)
Sam Jamieson (2017)
President & CEO, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
Ellen Bettridge is the President & CEO of Uniworld Boutique River Cruises. Ms. Bettridge joined Uniworld from Azamara Club Cruises, where she served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing, responsible for growing Azamara’s markets in the Americas, as well as for developing strategic relationships with trade and marketing partners. Previously, Ms. Bettridge held the position of President, Americas at Silversea Cruise Ltd., where she developed and implemented successful sales strategies and marketing campaigns throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Prior to Silversea, Ms. Bettridge held various positions at American Express over more than twenty years, initially as a Travel Counselor and most recently as Vice President Retail Travel Business, responsible for the management of travel and financial services in twenty-eight owned locations in the U.S., 300 employees and 150 franchisee partners.
Vice President, Product Development at Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
Wanda Kowalczyk is the Vice President of Product Development at Uniworld Boutique River Cruises. Ms. Kowalczyk joined Uniworld 21 years ago and has been working in the travel industry since she immigrated to the United States from Poland. With a Master’s Degree in Art History and an early career working in the film industry, Ms. Kowalczyk has a unique background for expanding and managing the boutique river company’s product lines in Europe, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt and Peru. A few years ago, she developed Uniworld’s Jewish Heritage program for guests to experience Central Europe’s Jewish legacy firsthand with visits to museums, memorials, synagogues and more. The program is now offered on two different all-inclusive itineraries and is the only one of its kind on the rivers. Wanda’s passion for creating this experience for guests is why she loves the travel industry; as she says, “There is no business…like the travel business!”
Professor of English and Director of Jewish Studies, Loyola Marymount University
Founder and director of the Jewish Studies Program and Professor of English at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Dr. Holli Levitsky has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Literature in Poland, a Schusterman Fellow at the Summer Institute for Israel Studies (SIIS), a Florida International University (FIU) Exile Studies Scholar-in-Residence, and co-directs the annual Jewish American and Holocaust Literature Symposium (JAHLit). She works primarily in the areas of Jewish American literature, Holocaust studies and Exile studies, and has published widely in these areas. Her most recent publications include Communist Poland: A Jewish Woman’s Experience (2022); New Directions in Jewish American and Holocaust Literature: Reading and Teaching (2018); The Literature of Exile and Displacement: American Identity in a Time of Crisis (2016) and Summer Haven: The Catskills, the Holocaust and the Literary Imagination (2015).
Student Advocate
The Ellie Lainer Youth Leadership award is presented to a student who demonstrates leadership and commitment to Holocaust education.
