Sammy and Gina Shapiro have always had a soft spot for their spiritual teachers. So much so, in fact, the couple called on three rabbis from up and down the East Coast to officiate their wedding. (It’s a long story.) That was 51 years ago, and the couple (and its reverence for religious leaders) is still going strong.
As evidence of this fact, consider the Shapiros’ pledge of $1 million to establish the Samuel R. and Regina K. Shapiro Endowed Scholarship Program, which will award four-year, full-tuition scholarships to children of clergymen and religious educators of any faith. The Shapiros say they have benefited from remarkable spiritual teachers their whole lives, and their scholarship gift is recognition that these spiritual leaders perform much public good – often doing such work without receiving the income necessary to put their own children through college.
“Their children,” says Sammy, “shouldn’t be left out.”
Not content to leave it at that, the Shapiros made a second $1 million pledge this summer to support the College’s Jewish student life program. The gift will support weekly meet-to-eat and Shabbat dinners, fund community outreach projects and subsidize student trips to Israel. Most important, the Shapiros say, the gift will help maintain and enhance a community at the College that makes students feel welcome.
The Jewish student life program, according to Gina, should be a home away from home for College students. Sammy agrees, hoping that his family’s gift creates a nurturing environment for students of all faiths.
Mimi Lewis, former coordinator of the College’s Jewish student life program, thinks the Shapiros’ gift will more than accomplish such goals: “Students shape their week around student life activities like our Wednesday-night meet-to-eat and Shabbat dinners. They know they have a place to go to connect with friends, connect with staff and be a part of the greater Charleston community. These are deeply meaningful experiences to a large number of young people who are at a critical stage in framing their identity.”
The Shapiros’ generosity to the College is not without family precedent. In 1999, Gina Shapiro’s mother, Freddie Kronsberg, endowed a lecture series celebrating Jewish ideas and values in honor of her late husband and Gina’s father, Milton. Despite the philanthropic spirit that runs through their bloodlines, however, the Shapiros insist their most recent gifts were inspired by the need for student scholarships at the College and the impressiveness of the expanding Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program.
“The College’s Jewish Studies Program has been important to our family for a long time and we are happy to support an initiative that has impacted so many young people and community members over the years,” says Gina. “Sam and I are also grateful to President Benson for enlightening us about the College’s greatest need – scholarship support – and how scholarships provide life-changing access to a College of Charleston education.”
As Sammy, puts it, “We just see a good thing, and we want to help.”
