What is now a quarter-century tradition at The J, the Jewish Food and Culture Fest, has modest but ambitious roots. When Betty Habshey came to Birmingham as a young staff member at The J, she noticed a number of food festivals in the area, including those hosted by the Greek and Lebanese communities. Her previous experience with a large outdoor event in Florida made her think that a Jewish version might be a good fit.
A quarter century of Food Fests shows that Betty was on to a pretty good idea. And perhaps just as important for her — and The J — that inaugural event also marked the start of what would become decades of volunteer work at The J for her husband, John Habshey.
While John, now 76, has been a fixture at every Food Fest, he has especially fond memories of those first Food Fests, which took place in the fall. “We’d be cooking for the festival with a TV on, watching the World Series,” he recalls.
Executive Director Brooke Bowles calls John one of the hardest-working Food Fest volunteers. “He’s constantly in motion doing the event’s least glamorous job of dealing with the scraps and garbage generated by an operation that serves a wide menu to 2,000 people.”
Over the years John has found plenty of other ways to get his hands dirty — from clearing brush and other grounds work to fixing you-name-it within The J’s walls. The couple’s fixer-upper house provided him with plenty of handyman experience, and he was always especially eager to help Betty with her projects when she was camp director.
A caring touch
One of their more ambitious undertakings was the creation of a large deck that camp kids have been able to enjoy for many years while exploring The J’s backwoods trail system. The creek that trickles under the structure conveys a caring touch in the way the project came together.
“I guess it’s the way you’re brought up, you know?” replies John when asked about his volunteer spirit. His Lebanese grandfather came to America from Lebanon early last century, and he credits his grandparents with instilling a strong community spirit. “He was a community leader here and they were both involved in everything,” John says. “That’s what I saw growing up — giving back and always helping. It was just natural to them.
Today John is tackling an overgrown and seemingly forgotten sloped play area behind The J’s outdoor pool. His efforts, initially supplemented by a crew of volunteers, has involved moving deep layers of debris and installing a drainage system, and he’s fixing up the obstacle and rope courses and a slide. The plan is to have the space ready in time for use by this summer’s J Camp.
“I’ve been very lucky healthwise and I’ve been very fortunate in my life, and I just feel like you need to give back,” John explains. “So why not help out where our kids found a lot of good memories? And I’ve got a lot of good memories here, too.”
The post I am The J: Food Fest helps feed John Habshey’s hunger to serve appeared first on Levite Jewish Community Center.
