Katie Applefeld

Katie Applefeld began her Jewish communal volunteer career at The ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore through an innovative program called the Tzedakah Project. The program was designed to engage young and up and coming leaders and educate them about the needs facing our Jewish community on a local and global level. And engage it did! Since her participation in the Tzedakah Project Katie has made the strengthening of the Jewish community a priority in her life. 

Katie is the founder and chair of The Associated's JDC Advisory Committee and also serves on The Associated's Board of Directors, the Israel and Overseas Committee, and is the chair-designate for the Odessa Partnership Committee. Katie has also served as chair of IMPACT, the Associated's young adult division, and has served in a variety of leadership roles in the Women's Department.

Outside of Baltimore, Katie is a member of The Jewish Federation of North America's National Young Leadership Cabinet where she is currently Co-Vice Chair of the NYL Membership portfolio. She also serves on The Jewish Federation of North America's Ethiopian-Israeli Work Group.

Through her travel experiences with Baltimore, The Jewish Federation of North America’s NYL Cabinet and The American Joint Distribution Committee, Katie’s eyes have been opened to the tremendous needs facing the global Jewish community as well as the hope for a bright future.

Katie’s involvement in both the local and global Jewish community has transformed her life. She feels so fortunate to be in a position to give back and is driven by the wish that no family goes hungry, no senior lives in isolation and no Jew in need in any corner of the world feels alone. Much of the work she does is motivated by her desire to ensure a Jewish future for her two children.

Steven Scheck

Steven Scheck is a Jewish experience addict. Whether one of his 12 trips to Israel, the Former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, Germany or Poland, Steven has always been on the lookout for experiences that give a better understanding of the amazing work that we do as a Federation system specifically and as Jews in general. It all started with a phone call at The University of Texas asking for a gift to the annual UJA Campaign which then led to his first UJA Mission to Israel and continued involvement in the campaign in the remaining years in Austin. When returning to his hometown of Miami after college, Steven continued his involvement in Federation and eventually became Chair of The Network, Miami’s Young Leadership Division.

In 2004, Steven was accepted into the National Young Leadership Cabinet and served in several roles including, Ben Gurion Mission Chair, Membership Co-Vice Chair and most recently NOLA Conference Co-Chair. The highlight of his Cabinet experience is participating in the UJC Operation Promise Mission to Ethiopia in 2006 where he traveled with 150 Ethiopian Jews as they made aliyah to Israel. Steven’s true motivation for his involvement is to set a good example for his four children who keep him plenty busy when he is not traveling or as they call it, “On a Tzedakah Trip”.