Joel Jacob to Receive JCRC 2011 Activist Award

Joel Jacob will receive the 2011 Activist Award from the Jewish Community Relations Council at a special event in his honor on Sunday, June 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Building on the Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus in West Bloomfield.

Max Finberg, Director of the USDA Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be the program’s featured speaker.  Finberg has dedicated his career to serving others, especially hungry people and has a wide range of experience in the government, non-profit and political arenas. 

An ardent advocate for social justice, Joel has made preventing and alleviating hunger his life’s work.  Joel’s journey began when he was 15 years old bussing tables at weddings and bar mitzvahs at Congregation Shaarey Zedek. Joel would take the dishes back to the people washing dishes in the kitchen who he would observe eating the unfinished food off of the plates.  Those images of hunger would stay with Joel throughout the years, as he became an internationally-known activist on behalf of those who are hungry.  

Today, Joel is known throughout America and in Israel for his boundless energy and tenacity in working to end childhood hunger by 2015. In 2009, Joel was elected the International Chairman of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Now in its 25^th year, MAZON is the only national Jewish nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to preventing and alleviating hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds.  From Washington state to Washington, DC and throughout the world, Joel travels each week on behalf of MAZON advocating for hungry people who do not have a voice.

The founder and chairman of The Bottle Crew, the global supplier of glass and plastic bottles, caps and sprayers, Joel has linked his unwavering dedication to combating hunger with his company’s success.  “G-d gave us two hands, one to take care of our customers and our family, and the other to give back to the community,” Joel said.  As The Bottle Crew has grown, Joel has used his resources and business relationships to connect many of his customers in the food and drug industry to hunger-fighting organizations to make sure that their excess products do not go to waste.  Over a 15-year period, Joel organized a grassroots effort and convinced Walmart, the world’s largest company, to make a two billion dollar commitment to help end hunger.  This is the largest corporate donation in the history of the United States.  Joel is also a driving force in the battle to alleviate hunger in Israel, where over one third of the children live below the poverty level. Joel travels there frequently to meet with members of the Knesset and ministers in the coalition government, working with them to develop a national school breakfast and lunch program.

For Joel, the reason for his devotion and drive is simple.  “How many things can we work on and know that we can change the world?  Hunger is one of them where we know that if we do certain things, we can end hunger as we know it today,” he said.

Born in Detroit, Joel is the former chairman of Kids Kicking Cancer, The Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives, and the United Jewish Communities Young Leadership Cabinet Michigan Region.  He is also the founder and president of CEO's Under 17, a program that teaches entrepreneurial skills to inner city youth. He is a member of Congregation Shaarey Zedek. An advocate for all good causes, Joel is the recipient of the United Way Heart of Gold Award. He is the proud father of five children.

Those who wish to help JCRC recognize Joel Jacob’s considerable achievements may do so by donating online at detroitjcrc.org, or by calling the JCRC office at 248-642-5393.   Contributors at the Gold ($180) level and above are invited to attend a 6:00 p.m. pre-glow strolling dinner with a guest.  For information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Beverly K. Phillips, 248-203-1527 or via e-mail at phillips@jfmd.org .