Hebrew school honors volunteer

KINGSTON – When most schools hold a picnic or bazaar, it’s to raise money. When the United Hebrew Institute in Kingston holds its annual end-of-the-summer picnic, it’s not about raising money; it’s about raising awareness and giving back.

This year, it was also about recognizing people who made a life practice of giving back.

Because the picnic is a time when the entire UHI community comes together with the larger community, picnic Chairman Kevin Greenberg said Sunday’s picnic was the perfect time to present the first Martin and Janet Popky award for Volunteer of the Year.

“Marty and Janet have been instrumental in doing whatever they could to ensure UHI continued as a school where kids could get a good Jewish and secular education,” Greenberg said. “They learn not only how to read and write and how to read and write in Hebrew, but also how to work within the community and give back, to be thankful for what they have. Marty and Janet epitomized that philosophy.”

The first Volunteer of the Year award was made posthumously to Martin D. Popky, who died in May of this year. His wife of 51 years, Janet, was present for the award, as were daughters Linda and Judy, both UHI graduates.

The women recalled how Martin served on the UHI board twice in the ’60s and ’70s and how he helped out at the school for more than 40 years, from assisting with the picnic to responding to security alarms at the school in the middle of the night.

“Even the last few years when he couldn’t walk, he would still be here helping,” said Linda.

Popky, who with his wife ran the insurance business they began together in 1956, was such a strong believer in helping that his daughters said it took years before they realized what he was doing was special.

Besides his work with UHI, his family said Popky lobbied legislators for the establishment of Wilkes-Barre’s B’nai B’rith subsidized elderly apartments — apartments that were named after him in 2006.

“It wasn’t until the last few years when people started honoring him that I thought there was anything unusual about this,” Linda said. “I thought it was just what people did. He made it seem that way.”

She added the same could be said for her mother, whose name will also be on the annual award.

“I tried to get them to only put his name on it, but they insisted it be both of us,” Janet Popky said. “But he would be very honored, and to have it named for him is outstanding. I hope it continues to honor people who embody the same philanthropic spirit that he had.”

Rabbi Raphael Nemetsky said the picnic is a school community tradition and one that he’s embraced in the year since he took over as school principal last year.

“For a lot of people, this is a calendar event, the highlight of their summer.”

More than 30 people, many of them school graduates from 30 or 40 years ago, volunteer to prepare thousands of pounds of food into chicken dinners, potato pancakes and trays of kugel — a noodle-based dessert made with eggs, fruit and a sweet crumb topping, Nemetsky said.

“This event has minimal financial impact on the school,” he said. “The main purpose is to get people together and to give back to those who support us.”