Carolyn Tisdale will receive NCJW|MI's Woman of Vision Award on Oct. 8 at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills. Former NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps will speak about resilience, service and goals worth pursuing.
Registration, boutiques and the patron meet-and-greet begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, at Adat Shalom Synagogue, 29901 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills. The keynote and awards presentation start at 11:45 a.m.
Carolyn Tisdale will receive the National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan's Woman of Vision Award during the event. Dr. Jeanette Epps, a former NASA astronaut and aerospace engineer, will give the keynote address.
The luncheon will follow the awards. Door prizes are also planned.
The gala will honor the Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy Network with the Josephine S. Weiner Community Service Award. Proceeds will support NCJW|MI programs for Detroit children, Oakland County students, hospitalized children, homebound seniors and families facing other needs.
Award recognizes broad service
Tisdale has worked for decades across Detroit's Jewish and civic nonprofit community. She served as president of Hebrew Free Loan and the Jewish Women's Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit. She chaired the board of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and co-chaired Bookstock.
She has also supported NCJW|MI and taken part in its annual Back 2 School Store. That work brought her close to several of the organization's programs.
Tisdale did not seek the award as a measure of her work. She said she was surprised because many women in the community lead organizations, take on public responsibilities or help behind the scenes without recognition.
Her service began with a lesson from her parents. It grew after she returned to the Detroit area in 1991.
Volunteering helped Tisdale reconnect with the region after part of her life in Connecticut. Her family moved there after she graduated from high school.
Those roles also put her in direct contact with problems that can be hard to see from a distance. At Hebrew Free Loan, board members interview applicants seeking interest-free loans. Through the Jewish Women's Foundation, Tisdale met groups seeking support for community programs. MAZON introduced her to the effects of food insecurity.
Levin said she did not know Tisdale personally when the award committee first considered her. After reviewing Tisdale's work across several organizations, Levin called her an ideal recipient. She also stressed Tisdale's ability to encourage others to volunteer.
Epps brings a different vantage point
Epps will address the event's theme of resilience from an unusual professional background. She spent more than 233 days aboard the International Space Station as a mission specialist with SpaceX Crew-8.
During that mission, she conducted research, maintained station systems and worked with international partners. Her career also includes aerospace engineering and service as a CIA intelligence officer.
Her work has taken her into space. Organizers will connect that experience to challenges in ordinary community and professional life.
Sallyjo Levin, a past NCJW|MI president and chair of Women of Vision, said the program should encourage attendees to pursue goals they may have postponed. The message is practical. A dream does not become less worth pursuing because someone waited to act on it.
Tisdale describes resilience in direct terms. Progress may come through small steps rather than one breakthrough, she said. Persistence also requires women to speak up, become more assertive and keep going after setbacks.
That message is simple.
Programs funded by the gala
NCJW|MI's Back 2 School Store provides clothing, coats, school supplies and books to 700 Detroit children. The organization also runs a backpack program for Oakland County students in need.
It supplies fleece blankets to hospitalized children. It supports literacy efforts and Kosher Meals on Wheels for homebound seniors.
The work extends beyond direct services. NCJW|MI also takes part in advocacy and educational efforts involving women, children and families.
The Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy Network will be recognized for helping individuals and families facing end-of-life challenges.
The event is both a fundraiser and a way to recruit volunteers. Some attendees may come for the keynote speaker or the honorees. Organizers want them to leave with a specific cause in mind and a willingness to contact an organization doing that work.
A local fundraising report shows how community stories can draw attention to civic participation. This event puts that participation in the hands of attendees.
Farmington Hills is the municipal jurisdiction for the venue. Oakland County administration provides the broader county-government context for the students and families among the programs' intended beneficiaries.
The event is a nonprofit fundraising luncheon. It is not a City Council meeting, a Farmington Public Schools board meeting or another public-agency meeting.
That distinction matters for residents checking calendars or planning transportation. Questions about tickets, accommodations, parking and program access should go to NCJW|MI or Adat Shalom rather than a municipal office.
The Farmington Hills city portal remains useful for general municipal information. The Farmington Public Schools board has a separate public-school governance role in the community.
Event details
Registration, boutiques and the patron meet-and-greet begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 8. The keynote speaker and awards presentation start at 11:45 a.m. A luncheon and door prizes will follow.
The event will be held at Adat Shalom Synagogue, 29901 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills. Tickets start at $54. Advance registration is required through ncjwmi.org/women-of-vision.
The boutiques, patron meet-and-greet and door prizes add a fundraising and networking element to the awards program.
Tisdale's advice for prospective volunteers is to start with a cause that matters personally. She urges people to contact an organization whose work they respect.
Her advice matches the event's focus on turning recognition into participation. Service is not a title reserved for prominent leaders.
That is the point.
NCJW|MI's programs turn interest-free loans, school supplies, meals, literacy work and hospice support into direct help. Tisdale's example and Epps' account of resilience carry the same message. Choose a need and take the first step.
