Evan Maling Mother of the Year Award -
Barbara Belsky
Given to a mother who displays unconditional love, devotion and tenacity in the face of great adversity.
Barbara Belsky is a registered nurse, certified in Gerontological Nursing and has predominantly been working in the Long Term Care industry. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri and moved to Chicago during her college years to avail herself of a larger orthodox Jewish community. Barbara initially attended college at Northeastern Illinois University, but after three years in special education, Barbara followed her passion and transferred to Evanston Hospital School of Nursing where she graduated. She immediately went to work in a Jewish LTC nursing home, the Lieberman Center, and has worked in various other nursing home facilities since then. She moved to New York for 6 years and continued her career at Aishel Avraham Nursing Home. In 1993 she met her husband and moved back to Chicago to start her family and continue her rapidly advancing career.
Barbara has always passionately advocated for her patients throughout her career no matter what position she held. Since 1994 she has held management roles in LTC where she worked to bring about positive changes to the industry standards.
Barbara is married to Larry Nudelman for 31 years and has two children. She lived life in a different rhythm than her friends. She married later, at age 35 and built her family after a lot of effort finally through adoption.
Barbara was first introduced to the Hinda Institute when she met Rabbi Binyomin Scheiman at a Skokie Chabad Shabbos dinner. Through unfortunate personal family experiences, she was able to get to know the Rabbi and Rebbitzen more intimately. Barbara has persevered through many trials and tribulations and despite these challenges has still been able to give back to the Institute and to others. She is an active member of the Hinda CARES weekly support group and volunteers for the Hinda Institute.
Barbara comments, “Hinda is an organization that most people don’t know about because, thank G‑d, they don’t have the personal need for their help. However, their role in helping those who are incarcerated, involved in the legal system or effected by others involved in the legal system is so needed and important. They provide support to our family with someone to talk to when needed and meeting others who have gone through similar challenges.”
Barbara is an extremely hard worker and one of our best fundraisers during the campaign. She also helps with packaging and cooking for the holidays. When Barbara is on a project, we know we will get results. Within our culture, there is a stereotype of the perfect mother. Barbara's perseverance, tenacity and hope for her children during her continual challenges deserves special recognition from all of us at Hinda.