December 18, 2012
A beautiful new 3 minute video narrated by Edith Murogo and produced by Chemonics highlighting the work of the Talia Agler Girls Shelter can be viewed by clicking here.
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December 2, 2012
Some new pictures from the Talia Agler Girls Shelter–sent by Edith. Click the link: TAGS Photos Nov 2012 to see them. As with all the photos and letters from the TAGS, they remind us why it remains our privilege to support the work.
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October 13, 2012
A new video, produced by all who contributed to the Talia Agler Memorial Fund through Chemonics and describing the needs that are being met by the Talia Agler Girls Shelter (TAGS) is linked here. The video is 7 minutes long and tells the story about the life-saving work that the TAGS does. We encourage you to view it, “like” it, and share it with your friends.
OCTOBER 9, 2012
Here is a letter from the President and CEO of Chemonics International, Richard Dreiman, who recently visited the Talia Agler Girls Shelter in Nairobi with members of his staff. Tali of course worked at Chemonics and the company has been incredibly supportive both of the work of the CDTD, including the Shelter, and our family, since the beginning.
September 11, 2012
If you are giving tzedaka at the new year, please know that contributions to the Talia Agler Girls Shelter in Nairobi can be made here.
In addition, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism continues to accept gifts for the Machon Kaplan College Scholarship fund in Tali’s memory.
And please, if you are eligible and have not already done so, become an organ donor and give help give the most priceless gift of all, the gift of life.
Finally, you can now “Like” the Talia Agler Girls Shelter on Facebook. If you are on Facebook, we invite you to do so–and tell all of your Facebook friends to do the same!
May the blessings of life be ours to give and receive in 5773.
August 28, 2012
New from Edith Murogo in Nairobi–includes a video link on the Talia Agler Girls Shelter (TAGS):
…We are expecting two very senior staff from Chemonics and are very excited about it. Also around the 22nd of Sept. we shall be receiving the US Ambassador-at-Large from Washington DC who is in charge of Trafficking in Persons (TIP). He will be in Kenya to hold a roundtable discussion with stakeholders on TIP, which is critical because Kenya has recently been downgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 3 due to poor implementation of the TIP Act…
…I want to assure you that Tali’s spirit is living even more strongly through the work that we are doing at TAGS. I went to visit TAGS last Saturday and was so much moved by the spirit of Tali as I tried to bring her alive to the girls at the shelter so that they could really know who she was…
I am attaching a link of a digital story that was developed by CDTD staff with the help of a lady known as Lydia Holden who had been sent by the GFC (Global Fund for Children) early this year before we legalized the name TAGS. It captures the change moment when CDTD decided to start a shelter for girls only early this year. You can find the digital story here.
Love,
Edith
june 20, 2012
My cousins Sharone and Aaron Cheskis (Sharone is the daughter of Rachel and Stan Lerner) recently gave birth to a baby boy and named him Brandon Naftali. For the bris, Sharone wrote the following words:
“Naftali is named after two people. First is my cousin Tali Agler. She was the type of person that whenever I think of her, I thank G-d for the miracle that people like her ever exist in our world.
As a mother however, I hope that our son takes many more years to accomplish what Tali did in her short life. For that reason I lengthened her name to Naftali, the tribe blessed with the symbol of the deer.
The second is my great uncle Tzvi Klein whose name means “deer.” I loved his sense of humor and his general outlook on life.
I hope that our son takes the many virtuous traits of Tali and continues to make the world a brighter place well into old age.”–Sharone
To this I add, may Brandon Naftali Cheskis come to be in Israel a shining name. And may Talia Agler continue to be remembered for blessing and inspiration.
April 11, 2012
Here’s a letter we received today from Edith Murogo in Nairobi to Tali’s company, Chemonics that was cc’d to us. It is descriptive of Tali and the relationship she had with the Centre for Domestic Training and Development. The second part details the trafficking victims assistance program that takes place at the newly established Talia Agler Girls Shelter.
Here is a photo of the shelter:
Here are some more photos of the work going on inside.
April 2, 2012
Thank you more than we can say to those who have asked how to contribute to the newly established “Talia Agler Girls Shelter” at the Centre for Domestic Training and Development in Nairobi, Kenya. (See 3/7-8/12 entries below if you do not know about this.) The easiest way to contribute is at talifund.org. and be secure in the knowledge that Edith will see that your gift goes a very long way. We are most grateful to Chemonics for continuing to process these transactions.
We also invite you to support the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism with contributions to the RAC, Talia Agler Memorial Fund, 2027 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036. We have joined with Rabbi David Saperstein in designating this fund to be a source of scholarships for the RAC’s Machon Kaplan summer college intern program. Thank you once again.
april 1, 2012
Please do Tali the honor of accepting our invitation to visit the website we have created in her memory. Spend some time there and come back often. Whether you knew her well, a little, or not at all, you will be inspired by the blessing that was her life.
Also, please consider supporting any of the causes listed there–or one of your own favorites in her name. Tali really was all about making the world a better place. She did. And so can we all.
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March 11, 2o12
My friend and colleague Jack Riemer asked for a copy of the “Rules According to Tali” that Mindy shared at the memorial service in Florida. He wanted to teach from them at his Shabbat table and described the compilation as an Ethical Will. Inasmuch as Jack has written books on that subject, we’ll accept his description. Read, enjoy and share them at this link–scroll down to the Feb. 5 entry by Mindy.
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march 8, 2012
Mindy and I met today with Edith Murogo, the Director of the Centre for Domestic Training and Development in Nairobi, Kenya. This is the place where Tali worked when she was an undergraduate on her semester abroad and one of the places we have suggested that people contribute to in Tali’s memory.
Edith is in the United States to speak as an invited guest at two international conferences on the role of women in Washington, DC. Despite that, she made it her business to fly down to meet with us for a few hours in the afternoon. We looked forward to being with her, as it would provide us the opportunity to share some Tali stories with someone who was very special in her life. It turned into something more.
As we sat over sandwiches at the airport, Edith told us that the CDTD has recently expanded to include a program for the rescue of girls ages 10-18who have been victimized by trafficking. We congratulated her on this most worthwhile mission. Then she told us that the board of the Centre has decided to name it the “Talia Agler Girls Shelter.” It left us speechless. But we wanted to share the news with you.
Thank you once again to one and all who have been there for us in love and support in recent weeks. We remain more grateful than we can say. And yes, Tali’s memory is very much for blessing.
Rich and Mindy–and Edith
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march 8, 2012
Correspondence between me and Edith:
> Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2012 08:20:55 -0500
>
> Dear Edith,
>
> Yesterday’s visit is one we will never forget. Meeting you for the
> first time brought Tali and her love to life once again. I have
> always believed that good people will find other good people and as
> Mindy said to me last evening, you and Tali were a match made in heaven.
>
> We are touched and honored more than we can say by the naming of the
> girls shelter in her honor. Thank you to you and the board members so
> very much. I know that her spirit will keep everyone who knew her
> energized and focused on making the girls lives all that they should
> be. We will make it our business to visit one day, hopefully in the
> not too distant future.
>
> Thank you once again and many blessings to you and your loved ones.
>
> Richard
Dear Rich and Mindy,
Thank you so much for finding time to meet me yesterday. I will always cherish the precious time we spent together and I can’t begin to say how much I felt touched and appreciated by your love and kindness. Mindy it is always my pleasure to talk to you and now I am happy that I met Rich. You are such a wonderful couple and even though I know that you have heard this before many times, I want you to know that this is from the depth of my heart. I want to commit that I will do everything possible to keep Tali’s candle burning and to let the flames warm needy girls especially those who have no one else to turn to. I am sure you will support me in this so that together we can do what Talia would be proud of…
I had a good journey back yesterday arriving at Washington at midnight! By 10.30 am today, I was at the Global Fund for Children‘s (GFC) Boardroom making my presentation, especially about the Talia Agler Girls Shelter. As you already know the GFC is providing initial support to CDTD to develop this shelter so that it can offer much needed services to abused girls. At the moment GFC has approved a grant to develop a Child Protection Policy to guide our engagement with children and another grant has been given to some consultants in Tanzania so that they can start a process of organizational development.
I want to thank you very much for accepting our request to honor Tali through the Shelter Project and hope and trust that her spirit will live on through the vision of this project. I will be contacting you both in future to discuss more on this project but for now let us all concentrate on thinking how best we can set up and develop the shelter. I know you both have a lot to offer.
Mindy, thanks for writing to Lucy, she adores you and hopes that she can meet you some day. As I told you she is a great lady, she made it possible for me to meet you and Rich yesterday.
I have just seen an email of your friends who would like to make a donation, I will reply to them, and inform them of how to do so through our website.
With much love,
Edith
domesticworkers@hotmail.com
http://www.domesticworkersprogram.org/
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march 4, 2012
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg of Boca Raton Synagogue (Orthodox) wrote the passage below in his blog following his shiva call in honor of Tali. It is in the context of Jews across the various movements building closer bonds but it stands on its own here.…Indeed, it was this motivation that two weeks ago led me to a decision that I am so happy I made. Rabbi Richard Agler, who recently retired as the Sr. Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel , a Reform Congregation, suffered a terrible tragedy when a car struck and killed his 26 year old daughter as she was jogging… I decided that the proper thing to do, if for no other reason than my role in the Orthodox community of Boca, was to pay a shiva call. And so, Rabbi Broide and I went to the Agler’s home to simply communicate that we care, feel their pain and pray for their comfort.The time we spent together and the inspiration Rabbi Broide and I received that day, were remarkable. I asked Rabbi Agler how this tragedy impacts his faith in the Almighty. As a Rabbi, he undoubtedly has spoken about bad things happening to good people, but now he has lived it.His answer blew me away. He said, “My Judaism, my relationship with God and my faith are what empowered me to raise such a wonderful daughter and these values are what gave her life meaning and purpose. Why would I throw away the very things that made her so special, just because she was taken so prematurely and tragically? Faith allowed me to raise a special daughter, and faith will guide me through the tragedy of her death.”To read the remainder of Rabbi Goldberg’s blog post click here and scroll down to the entry of Feb. 10.
March 1, 2012
Deepest thanks to the members of the Keys Jewish Community Center who have dedicated this brick in the Meditation Garden in Tali’s memory. Among many other places, she loved the Keys.
February, 2012
Dear Beloved Friends,
Words cannot express my gratitude for all your support at this sad time in our lives. It is that support from Tali’s friends, our friends, Jesse, Tovah, and Sarah’s friends, and our amazing family, that will get us through this.
A website has been created where we can all post our memories of our wonderful Tali. Please visit this link to add your thoughts. We will posting our remarks, as well as those of others who spoke at her two memorial services.
Thank you again for all your kindnesses and love.
Mindy
January 28, 2012
With inexpressible sorrow and loss, we inform you of the sudden passing of our daughter and sister Talia, on Friday, January 27 in Washington, DC. Tali was jogging along the National Mall when she was struck by an automobile and fatally injured the previous evening.Tali sought to better the world and she succeeded in doing so–through her work, through her wit and through her love. Her memory is more of a blessing than we can say.Contributions in Talia’s memory may be made to the Centre for Domestic Training and Development (CDTD) in Nairobi through the Tali Fund or to the Religious Action Center in Washington, DC
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Talia Agler Memorial Fund
2027 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
As an organ donor, Tali’s heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas and lung gave life to five individuals. They and their loved ones are more grateful than they can say. In Tali’s honor, or your own, we invite you to consider becoming an organ donor.
We also invite you to visit and add to this link that has been established in her memory. Come back often as it is a work in progress.
We are more grateful than we can say for the outpouring of love and support we have received. Kindly bear with us as it will take some time to appropriately respond to one and all. Thank you, and bless you, once again.
Richard, Mindy, Jesse, Tovah and Sarah Agler