Girl Scouts honor Koppell

Koppell, spiritual leader of Mesa's Temple Beth Shalom, is one of seven "women of achievement" being honored by the council.

Koppell is being awarded the "World of People" award. Others' awards are: Wauneta Lone Wolf, World of Well-Being; Sara Yeager, World of the Arts; Barbara Ralston, World of Today and Tomorrow; Bobbi Harrison, World of the Out-of-Doors; Gail Devaney Yates, World of Children; and Barbara Anderson, Long Green Line Leadership Award.

Koppell's award recognizes those who develop awareness of the various cultures in society, and who build pride in their own heritage while appreciating and respecting the backgrounds of others.

Koppell, one of the first 25 women ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, has served as Temple Beth Shalom's spiritual leader for nine years. A member of the resource distribution committee of the United Way, she also is a past-president of the Mesa Ecumenical Clergy Association and is president-elect of the board of directors of the East Valley Child Crisis Center.

Koppell, who was a Brownie Girl Scout as a girl in Brooklyn, N.Y., worked for the establishment of a Martin Luther King holiday in Mesa, and is the first woman rabbi to serve as a chaplain in the U.S. military, where she holds the rank of major in the U.S. Army Reserves.

She serves on the boards of directors of the Jewish National Fund, Solomon Schechter Day School and the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix.

For information on the lunch, call 253-6359.