Stampfer Award to honor Madeline Nelson and family

By Deborah Moon

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Madeline Nelson felt the 2008 Joshua Stampfer Community Enrichment Award needed to be presented to her entire family since she considers social action a family rather than individual trait.

So, at 6 p.m., May 29, the Stampfer Award will be presented to Madeline Nelson and Family, including her late father, father-in-law and husband—Dr. Isidor Brill, Roscoe Nelson I and Roscoe Nelson II—and her children—Roscoe Nelson III and Roz Nelson Babener.

“We’ve all been a pretty quiet group, but we are very gratified and excited about this award,” said Madeline Nelson. “We are honored to find ourselves” included with those who have received the award in the past, she said, mentioning Stampfer, Hershal Tanzer, Jerry and Helen Stern, Milt Carl, Henry Blauer, Victor and Toineete Menashe, Shirley Tanzer, Eve and Alan Rosenfeld and Renee and Irwin Holzman.

When she was approached about the award, Nelson said, “I thought that was a glaring miscue without Roscoe Jr.,” whose extensive pro bono legal work included protecting property rights of Japanese-Americans interred during World War II.

“But Grandpa Roscoe I, was responsible for social action set up nationally and Grandpa Brill was an outstanding pioneer doctor …who made house calls,” she said, noting Roscoe III has continued the tradition of pro bono service. “And I marvel everyday at Roz’s activities at the (Community) Warehouse,” of which she is a co-founder and full-time volunteer.

Roscoe Nelson II also served on the boards of the Metropolitan Family Services, the Oregon Psychoanalytical Association, the Oregon Symphony and the Portland Opera. He joined Rabbi Stampfer in creating the Institute for Judaic Studies, now celebrating its 25th anniversary.

A lifelong member of Congregation Beth Israel, Madeline Nelson nonetheless considers Rabbi and Goldie Stampfer good friends, in part through her late husband’s close association with the rabbi and through her daughter Roz’s involvement at Congregation Neveh Shalom, where Stampfer is rabbi emeritus.

Madeline Nelson, who graduated from Stanford University as a Phi Beta Kappa, has played an active role in many diverse organizations. She served as president of both Jewish Family and Child Service and the local Camp Fire Girls Council, also serving on that group’s national board. As a member of the Beth Israel Sisterhood board, she learned Braille and spent 25 years typing Braille books for the blind.

She continues to support a diverse range of organizations too numerous to mention both financially and with her time.

Her daughter Roz Babner is more focused in her volunteer efforts making the Community Warehouse a full-time volunteer project. Babener quit teaching after the birth of her second child and volunteered at JFCS to help Russian immigrants settle into their new homes. That evolved into running a warehouse to collect and distribute furniture and household items for the new arrivals. When the flow of immigrants slowed, Babener expanded her efforts and helped create the Community Warehouse which now helps about 4,000 families a year begin a new life.

“Outreach is the hat I wear,” she said modestly of her full-time involvement as a volunteer. “Even in the Jewish community were we had our start, a lot of people don’t know about us.”

She noted JFCS is now one of about 90 agenices whose clients
receive free household goods and furnishings from the warehouse. The warehouse focuses on the homeless, domestic violence victims and those facing mental health issues.”

Like her mother, Babener said she has a lot of respect for Stampfer and the other recipients of the award, so receiving the award “means a lot to me, particularly for my mom and the lineage of social action.”

“When I get very tired, I blame my mother,” quipped Babener of the long hours she puts in for the warehouse.

In addition to continuing his father’s tradition of pro bono work and serving on the JFCS board like his mother, Roscoe Nelson III has been very involved in Vision NW. Asked by his friend, the late Ralph Policar, to help that agency learn to fund-raise, he went on to join the board on which he remains. He also remains connected with the boy he met in 1973 when he served as a big brother through JFCS.

“I want to make the world a better place to live in,” he said. “That’s my job. I need to give back; I was raised that way.”

The Stampfer Award is named for its first recipient, Rabbi Joshua Stampfer, in recognition of the rabbi’s 50 years of distinguished service to the community. It honors individuals or organizations who have enriched the Jewish cultural, educational and/or community life with the dedication exemplified by Stampfer.

The Stampfer Award is presented by five Jewish communal organizations either created by Stampfer or in which he played key roles: Congregation Neveh Shalom where Stampfer is now rabbi emeritus, the Institute for Judaic Studies, the Oregon Jewish Museum, the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center and Camp Solomon Schechter.

The Awards dinner begins at 6 p.m., May 29, at the Benson Hotel, 309 SW Broadway. Tickets are $60 per person. For reservations, call 503-246-8831 or e-mail meverett@nevehshalom.org.