The 2019 Mensch List

For our 14th annual mensch list, we asked readers to nominate people they know who are doing extraordinary work without receiving deserving credit for it.

We couldn’t publish every submission, but the 12 stories that follow, including the husband and wife who throw birthday parties for homeless children on Skid Row, the retired educator who continues to teach as if working full time, and the high school class president who volunteers with special needs children, are inspiring examples of what it means to be animated by action, not accolades. 

Happy 2019.

Click on the mensch names below to read about what they are doing around the community. 

1.Heather Wilk

2.Jake Schochet

3.Ari Kadin and Mary Davis

4.Meryl Kern

5.Michele Rodri

6.Naomi Goldman

7.Dennis Poncher

8.The Schenkman Family

9.Luisa Latham

10.Ray Mallel

11.Phyllis Folb

12.Cantor David Shukiar

Photos by Cyndi Bemel