CHICAG0
“America was a new challenge. It was difficult leaving relatives, friends, and a lifestyle, but you had courage.”
-Hershel in a letter to his parents in 1975
Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation
HFF has made a multi year pledge to OWCF to support the recently established OWLS program. HFF is a founding partner in this program, and has earmarked over 4 years to provide tuition scholarships, and support through the HFF We Got Your Program in the USA by creating programming opportunities such as HFF’s LIVE Summit, HFF Summer Fellowships, granting wrap-around and emergency funds to the OWLS. A new class of OWLS is awarded every two years.
The Oprah Winfrey Leaders Scholarship (OWLS) program supports academically gifted students who demonstrate leadership in their communities. The scholarship awards students with educational support to become future leaders. Beyond providing scholarship assistance, OWLS creates a network between the students and offers unique access to speakers and thought leaders in various fields. This network is designed to offer insight, inspiration, and mentor support to encourage the OWLS throughout their academic journeys and beyond. Scholarships are funded by the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation, with collaboration from the Herrendorf Family Foundation.
“I am where I am today because of education and the support of teachers throughout my life. In partnership with the Herrendorf Family Foundation, I am honored to support these students who have shown high achievement in their academic studies, but more importantly a commitment to their communities. These young leaders bring me hope for our future, and I look forward to watching each of them flourish.” - Oprah Winfrey
Chicago Bulls Charities
In partnership with Chicago Bulls Charities, Herrendorf is supporting two students from the Chicago Bulls Prep High School. The Chicago Bulls College Prep is a public four-year charter high school located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is a part of the Noble Network of Charter Schools. It is named after the Chicago Bulls basketball team, which endowed the school. HFF is providing partial tuition scholarships to the two selected scholars for four years while pursuing their undergraduate degree programs.
Chicago White Sox (ACE Program)
The White Sox Amateur City Elite (ACE) program provides a pathway to the game of baseball for more than 150 youth annually, while offering educational and mentorship programming aimed at pulling kids away from the dangers and potentially fatal distractions of Chicago's violent neighborhoods. HFF has committed to partial tuition scholarships for three selected scholars during their 4 year undergraduate degree or pro level baseball programs.
“The goal of our ACE program - from which some HFF scholars were selected and supported - is to help our participants succeed not only on the playing field but in life. So, supporting them academically is a very important focus for us. That said, we don't have the means or method to offer support once our program alums get to college. The financial lift from HFF to those who were selected as scholars is so impactful and important to keep them on track to graduate college which definitely sets them up for so many opportunities.”
Born This Way Foundation
HFF supports Born This Way Foundation to provide training for, and delivery of, the tMHFA (Teen Mental Health First Aid Program) in selected Chicago High Schools in 2021 and 2022. Born this Way Foundation teamed up with the National Council for Mental Wellbeing to bring teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) to the US. This in-person training teaches high school students about common mental health challenges and what they can do to support their own mental health challenges and what they can do to support their own mental health and help a friend who is struggling. It’s equipping young people with the knowledge and skills they need to foster their own wellness and to support each other. As of 2022, the program has been implemented in 600 sites, training over 42,000 teens. tMHFA will expand to an additional 500 schools.
Simon Wiesenthal Center
In November 1977, the Simon Wiesenthal Center was founded. Today, together with its world renowned Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and the New York Tolerancenter, it is an international center for Holocaust remembrance and the defense of human rights. With offices throughout the world, the Wiesenthal Center carries on the continuing fight against bigotry and antisemitism and pursues an active agenda of related contemporary issues. Herrendorf Family Foundation directly funds educational programming to continue the fight against anti-Semitism and hatred. Programs in universities, communities and high schools include the Combat Hate workshop, the Anti-Semitism Educational Initiative led by TM Garret in selected Chicago high schools, and the ongoing development of the Mobile Museum of Tolerance.
Arie Crown Hebrew Day School
Arie Crown Hebrew Day School is a preschool through 8th grade Orthodox Jewish day school committed to nurturing their students academically and spiritually. HFF provides funding for core programs that inspire students to achieve more, learn more and grow more.
My Block, My City, My Hood
HFF is a contributing partner to M3’s “I Gotchu” Scholarship program in Chicago. This wrap-around support program provides critical funding to M3’s Explorer Alumni who are pursuing post-secondary paths (vocational and educational). Granting from HFF is used to support tuition costs, credential attainment, trade school, books/supplies, transportation, and other general support services as long as the recipient meets with their mentor monthly, and continues their post-secondary path. Students who participate in the My Block My Hood My City Explorers Program, and have completed a full program year can qualify for this scholarship opportunity.
“HFF has truly been the crucial piece for us ensuring that youth in our program encounter the least possible barriers when pursuing college or other postsecondary pathways. Our students who have gone through the Explorers program have built a life long relationship with My Block My Hood My City, and we are often the first call a student will make if they need help. The support that HFF has given us allows us to support our young people well into their early years of adulthood. This type of security is life changing for our students.”
Our Chicago Story
In 1960, the Herrendorf family moved to Chicago, Illinois to be closer to Pola’s two surviving brothers, and to surround the boys (then 10 and 8) with a loving and supportive family. Samuel began his own shoe business in Chicago, and this entrepreneurial spirit led the boys to find work early. At the age of 16, Hershel met a day trader in his fathers shoe shop, and inquired as to where the well-dressed man worked. The gentleman told Hershel he worked at the Chicago Mercantile, and if he wanted, there would be an opening for Hershel, while the man vacationed for the summer. Hershel started the next day and was hooked, and grew to quick success, as early as the age of 21.
Growing up in the jewish community of Chicago, Hershel settled in 1980 as one of the first purchases in the Water Tower in downtown Chicago. In 1989, Hershel found his new motivation for success in the birth of his first and only child, Kasondra, while brother Joshua had two children, Sam and Alexa. Family summers were spent on Lake Geneva, together on the water and celebrating Hershels summer birthday. It was from his May 16, 2014 flight home from Vancouver, visiting his daughter Kasondra, that Hershel passed peacefully in his sleep. Survived by Kasondra, Joshua and Joshua’s family, his funeral was held at Westlawn Jewish Funeral home in Chicago.
Chicago was where Hershel found a home, success, memories and peace for his family. We feel a strong desire as Hershel's family to give back to the community that has allowed our family the opportunity to be in a position to give, in his name.