In tribute to slain Israeli Embassy staffer from JoCo, friends launch ‘Sarah’s Week’
Friends and family around the world have come together to organize a week of giving back to their communities — including one project taking place in Kansas City — to honor the life of Sarah Milgrim of Prairie Village, one of two people killed in an alleged anti-Semitic attack earlier this year.
Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, who were both Jewish, were Israeli Embassy staff members killed near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., in May after an event at the museum. Elias Rodriguez has been charged in federal court with two counts of first-degree murder.
Shortly after her death, Amanda Birger and several others close to the Kansas native decided to come together and plan a way to honor Milgrim around what would’ve been her 27th birthday on Dec. 29.
“We knew that would be a hard time for us, her friends, and we wanted to make sure that that time was also filled with Sarah’s love and light being spread around,” Birger told The Star.
What originally was one service project, evolved into a week of community service, which they describe as a global action initiative. From Dec. 22 through Dec. 29, groups of Milgrim’s friends around the world have set up events in their communities to honor her, including in Israel, Japan, Canada and the United States. The project was important to those close to Milgrim, who said community service was at the center of her life.
“Sarah devoted her entire life to community service, to making different communities that she lived in and that she cared about better, stronger and more connected,” Birger said.
On Sunday Dec. 28, Birger and several others in Kansas City will gather at 10:30 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center located at 5801 W 115th st in Overland Park to pack emergency care kits to keep in their cars. Around 15 people have signed up for the event so far, and Birger said it’s open to anyone in the public.
“That way when you’re driving, and you see someone who is living outside or who looks like they could use some help, and you feel like a dollar isn’t enough, you have something in your car to help make hopefully their night a little bit better and warmer,” she said.
Volunteers can commit on their website to bring certain items on the list to add to the care packages. Hats and gloves to donate are also welcome.
“Her friends and I think that this is what she would be doing if she were here,” Birger said. “She would be making communities better and so that is the best way to honor what she wanted and who she was.”
‘She was just an incredible person’
Milgrim was a 2017 graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School, and a 2021 graduate of the University of Kansas, where she met Birger, who describes her as an incredibly loyal friend. She said Milgrim gave off a warm field of protection to everyone she was close to.
“She was just an incredible person, joyful, smart, kind caring, all the things that you want in a friend... she was just such an incredible human being to be around,” Birger said of Milgrim.
Milgrim, though younger than Birger, was someone she looked up to, she said. Her ability at such a young age to have intelligent conversations with others about conflicts in the Middle East so gracefully and passionately stood out to Birger and helped the Jewish community, she said.
“I felt just lucky to have a Jewish friend who was such a shining example of how to be so proudly, boldly Jewish and somehow doing it quietly,” she said. “She never walked around and yelled about it, but it was so clear that she was proud to be Jewish and proud to be who she was to anybody who spoke to her.”
Robert Milgrim, Sarah Milgrim’s father, previously told The Star that she and her boyfriend Yaron Lischinsky were about to get engaged when the shooting happened. They had been dating for about 18 months and were going to fly to Israel to meet his parents for the first time.
Milgrim, her father said, earned two master’s degrees before her death, one from American University in Washington, D.C., and a second from the United Nations’ University for Peace in Costa Rica.
Her focus was on international studies and international sustainable development. She thought she might work for USAID, but also applied for a position at the Israeli embassy.
“She had a passion for Israel,” her father said.
Sarah Milgrim was offered a position at the embassy in 2023 in the weeks prior to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the aftermath of which led to the war in Gaza.
“You know, she was a really special person,” Nancy Milgrim said of her daughter. “And she devoted her life to giving to others, and supporting Israel, and working for peace in the region — and just really wanted peace.”
The future of Sarah’s Week of Service
After months of committee meetings, building the website and social media, Birger hopes Sarah’s Week of Service becomes an annual project, and is both open and optimistic about its future.
“I don’t know, but I know that the people who are working on this project have enough love for Sarah to do this project for a hundred more years,” she said.
Those who aren’t able to make it to the local event on Dec. 28 are still encouraged to commit to an individual act of service, whether that be volunteering at the animal shelter, planting a tree, or doing anything they care about.
“However you feel you can improve your community,” Birger said. “Even if you’re doing it alone or with friends, all the small acts add up.”
Previous reporting from The Star’s Kendrick Calfee, Eric Adler and Judy Thomas were used in this piece.
