Honoring Emily Projects

Please tell us about something you did in Emily's honor

Acts of Service done In-Her-Honor

Each year we celebrate and express our gratitude for Emily -- her life and spirit -- with an Honoring Emily event. Traditionally these events involve art or service-related projects that connect us and the community to Emily. They are held in December, and we send out information on how to attend in person or participate remotely. If you would like to be added to our list of recipients for information about these events, please let us know through the Contact Us page.

Below are links with information about events from the past. Thank you for helping us to honor Emily.

See the results of the 2023 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2022 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2021 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2020 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2019 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2018 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2017 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2016 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2015 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2014 Honoring Emily project >>

See the results of the 2013 Honoring Emily project >>

Events and Awards

Dear Emily, I wanted you to know that we think of you every time we bring our therapy dog, Abby, to a nursing care facility. I'll bet you would have loved to see how residents eyes light up and a sense of peace and remembrance passes over their faces when they pet our patient pup.

Here in San Diego we have lots of families whose members are military service men and women. Our First Unitarian Universalist Church in the Uptown neighborhood now participates in the We Care project through the U-Uniform fellowship group. Every Sunday, at the U-Uniform table, people stop and write We Care messages. The messages are then taken to Operation Homefront, a community support group for military families. Messages are sent by family members to service men and women currently deployed in other parts of the world. This project has strengthened the bonds between people from the UU congregation and our city's military families. Thank you Emily!

I am getting involved in an ongoing project at Beth Am to support congregants who are going through a difficult time. I would be proud to do this work, called the Tikvah (hope) project, in honor of Emily. Doing it in her honor makes it all the more special for me, and is sure to give me strength, as well.

Alpha Phi Sorority donated proceeds from their Red Dress Gala event in 2012 and 2013 to the Emily Benatar Memorial Fund.

I donated $1,000 to Hands On Bay Area in Emily's honor.

I brought several meals to a sick friend in honor of Emily's compassion.

Our family donated to Heifer International in Emily's honor.

Every January, I make a donation to Heifer International, which I began doing at the time of Emily's bat mitzvah, and I think of her every time I write out the check. I'm grateful that she inspired me to support this wonderful organization.

Emily Benatar Art Scholorship Award at Paly

A $500 scholarship awarded to a student who exhibits a deep commitment to excellence in art, integrity in character, enthusiasm for learning in general, and a desire to continue developing an artistic passion throughout college. This year's recipient is Sarah Bramlett.

Emily Benatar P.E. Award Winners at Paly

Peter Valbuena

Christian Leong

Bethany Wong

Ciara Bleahen

Nate Althoff

Cole Draper

Ibby Day

Miguel Garcia

Lydia Brownell

Nicole Li

Michelle Slaughter

Sara Aguilar

Selected from over 1000 freshme and sophomores, these students are amazing kids who demostrate a postitive attitude every day in PE, just like Emily did. According to department chair Peter Dieprenbrock, "it's this attitude that is going to serve them to far greater success and happiness than any thing else they do here at Paly."

I made a donation in honor of Emily to the East Bay College Fund. This is an organization that provides mentoring and 4 year scholarships to at risk east bay youth to attend college.

At Willow Oaks Elementary in Menlo Park, we helped label and distribute new books and helped with some campus beautification projects. We collected books for the Esther B. Clark School in Palo Alto (that currently does not have a school library). EBC is affiliated with the Children’s Health Council and serves students struggling with emotional challenges.

My second graders will do a kind deed and it will be to honor Emily.

We helped homeless girls in Playa del Carmen, Mexico thru the "Rainbow House Home for Girls" (aka Casa Arcorisis para Ninas, AC).

I went to the Humane Society today and played with some dogs and cute kittens in honor of Emily. There was this scruffy terrier called Rabbit that was very attentive to my every movement.

Alpha Phi had 105 members CPR certified. While women's heart health is our philanthropic focus, we performed this act in honor of Emily and in memory of her everlasting kindness.

WashU's Circle K club wrote letters to soldiers in Emily's honor on her birthday. Happy birthday, Emily! Click here to see a picture of the letters.

We made a donation to Heifer in Emily's honor and dropped off cookies at Ronald McDonald House.