The Phyllis and Albert Appel Memorial Fund 

The Phyllis and Albert Appel Memorial Fund was created in honor of Phyllis and Albert Appel. This fund is designed to support students in bringing their programmatic visions to life by creating financial support for programs created and led by students.

Phyllis and Albert led proud Jewish lives, committed to values of family, community, loyalty and chesed (loving kindness). This Jewish pride has trickled down to their two sons, Larry and Burton, and from them onto their grandchildren, Molly, Lauren, Charlie, Avi and Yoni. Pride shows in all aspects of their lives, from school to camp, to Shabbat meals and family celebrations, and in Lauren’s case, her role as a Jewish professional at Illini Hillel.

In a eulogy for Phyllis Appel, her son wrote that she was a dreamer. In the later years of her life, she did not let challenges stop her from maintaining her independence and from being involved with her triplet grandchildren. As it is written, in the paragraph that is said before Birkat Hamazon, on Shabbat, “Sheer hamalot b’shoov adonai et shiva tzion hayeenu bechokmim”, which has been translated to “We will be as in a dream” or “We will be like dreamers”. Phyllis exemplified what it means to be a dreamer, and this fund was created with the hope that the Jewish students on campus could embody this and dream big.

At Illini Hillel, we encourage our students to dream big when it comes to programming that supports the building of their Jewish identity. The vision of this fund is to support students in turning their dreams into reality, and helping them to develop skills in what it means to plan and execute a project from vision to execution.

Thank you for helping more students find their place at Illini Hillel.

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If you are inspired by Phyllis and Alberts legacy and want to help more Jewish students find their place with Hillel, we invite you to give here