Keeping Cool, Kosher

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Ryan McKim is actually kind of a morning person. But getting out of bed at 6 a.m. on a recent Sunday took some extra motivation.

Fortunately, he had that extra kick thanks to Project Chicken Soup, a Culver City non-profit that prepares and delivers hot kosher meals to people throughout the L.A. area who are living with illnesses such as AIDS and cancer. McKim, an attorney at downtown L.A. law firm Morris Polich & Purdy, keeps kosher at home and jumped at the opportunity to volunteer when his friend Neal Weisenberg introduced him to the charity.

McKim put on an apron, received his instructions and began cooking at 8 a.m. sharp.

“We cooked well over 1,200 meals, so we had to start pretty early,” he said.

McKim, 32, said the whole experience was emotional, but meeting 94-year-old Project Chicken Soup board member Mollie Pier stood out as the highlight.

“Chopping about 40 onions brought me to tears several times over,” he said. “Seriously though, cooking alongside Mollie was the most moving part. She cooks as a way of honoring and remembering her son, who died of AIDS in the ’80s.”

Cuing Next Generation

Nancy Smith began playing the violin when she was in kindergarten. But when she moved to Los Angeles to begin her career in 1981 after graduating from Yale Law School, she could no longer find the time for music.

That, however, didn’t last long.

“I discovered I was going insane without music, so I added it back in my life,” said Smith, 58, partner in the infrastructure practice at the downtown office of law firm Nossaman.

She now performs in concert several times a year with the Pasadena Community Orchestra and Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic.

But Smith fears young kids today don’t have the same opportunities to learn the art of music. That’s why she got involved with Burbank non-profit Education Through Music – Los Angeles, which has brought music classes to about 7,000 students in 16 disadvantaged schools throughout Los Angeles.

“It’s tragic that school systems have dropped music as part of the core curriculum,” she said. “It’s very beneficial for children to be able to understand music.”

Whether or not they attend Fiddle Camp throughout their lives, Smith hopes kids today can use music to relieve stress.

“Music has made the biggest difference in my life,” she said. “It’s kind of my sanity check.”

Staff reporters Matt Pressberg and Cale Ottens contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at ccrumpley@
labusinessjournal.com.

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