Get to know more about ADL Board Member Debra Weinstein who has a deeply held passion for civil rights, plus the best six-word biography ever.

How are you involved with ADL?  I have been a board member for 3 years and have co-chaired the Society of Fellows Lunch and some other fun things.

What do you do in your professional life? I have retired from a long career in retail buying, selling,  merchandising, management and consulting.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?  I wanted to be Clara Barton or Nancy Drew.

Where were you born? From where do your ancestors hail?  I was born in Denver, and my ancestors are from Poland, Russia and Eastern Europe.

What’s one thing every person should know or experience? Every person should experience loving someone with all of their heart.

What teacher or class stands out to you the most in your education and why?  My high school English literature teacher was absolutely the best.  She created my love of all things literature and the classics.

If you had to teach something, what would you teach? I would teach tolerance and civility.  I would love to teach those essential qualities utilizing great books.

What are you passionate about personally? What can’t you stop talking about?  I am passionate about the survival of the Jewish people.  I can’t stop talking about pretty much everything…..all the time.

Where can we find you when you’re not working?  Walking my beloved dogs or in my gardens or maybe cooking something yummy.

Tell me a story that immediately pops into your mind that was a defining or significant moment for you. I was pregnant with my first child (Bret) and was the youth group advisor at Temple Emanuel in Denver. As part of my responsibilities I sat on the Sisterhood Board of Directors. I met another woman who was also pregnant, with her third child (Natalie).  We became inseparable friends to this day.  Nancy Gart and I have followed or led each other on a Jewish journey that has changed both our lives forever.

What is your earliest memory of ADL?  I remember ADL from high school when I participated in the first bus of students that volunteered to integrate a Denver high school.  ADL was there!

How did you first become involved in ADL?  I reached out to ADL in the mid 1990s when my son was bullied in high school because he was Jewish.

Complete this sentence: For me, the ADL is …the one organization that can fight for ALL humanity and be our collective consciousness for good.

If you had to write a six-word biography, what would it say?   Is your cup half full today?