Ellen Geller Kamaras
“My greatest passion is the Food Connection. It’s tiring but immensely rewarding to cook Shabbat meals for the elderly and for people and their families who are in the hospital for surgery or are undergoing treatment. I hold it near and dear to me.” - Sabrina
Please meet Sabrina Benun. She is the Operations Director for M. Hidary & Company, a wholesale clothing company that specializes in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of wearing apparel. Its focus is on active lifestyle clothing, such as athletic wear, swimwear, and outerwear for the entire family.
A true woman of valor, Sabrina is the co-founder of Food Connection, which prepares hundreds of Shabbat meals weekly. She and her friend Remy Zeitoune started the Food Connection at the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, when the SBH Food Pantry was about to close. Three years later, the Food Connection reached a milestone of over 50,000 meals prepared by its volunteers for the SBH pantry. This translates to 50,000 times that a family or individual received a homemade meal prepared with love and care by our community members.
Sabrina wears two more hats! She caters Shabbat meals and also owns a dehydrated fruit business called “Whole Fruits.”
Let’s go back to Sabrina’s childhood and follow her trajectory in becoming the talented and resourceful woman she is today.
Beginnings
Born to Mona and Jack Benun, Sabrina grew up on the Jersey Shore and was a student at Hillel Yeshiva for elementary and high school. Jack is of Syrian descent and was born in the U.S. Mona was born in Egypt. Sabrina is the second of four daughters, Rebecca, Sabrina, Vanessa, and Jasmine. The sisters are still very close and were fortunate to have traveled with their maternal grandmother to Egypt to learn about their roots.
Sabrina’s dad modeled a strong work ethic, and her mother was very creative and opened her home to guests and family. The Benun girls saw many parties in their childhood home and helped their mother shop, decorate tables, and more. Sabrina always enjoyed cooking.
As a child, Sabrina was very shy, quiet, and serious. She was an honor student. “Learning came easy to me and my favorite subjects were science and chemistry.” Sabrina also liked to paint and play softball.
After high school, Sabrina enrolled at Monmouth University. She was an avid student and took a broad range of subjects including public relations and journalism. She graduated with honors with a major in communications.
What is Sabrina’s essence? Her family describes Sabrina as caring, giving, outgoing, smart, savvy, and she possesses a heart of gold. I would add extremely resourceful, energetic, inventive, creative, and driven. Sabrina’s devotion to community is boundless.
Career and Hesed
After college, while building her career and community, Sabrina evolved from a shy student to an outgoing, strong woman.
Fresh out of Monmouth U., Sabrina moved to Manhattan and started an e-commerce business in 1999, buying trendy closeout items and selling them on eBay. Sabrina learned about eBay from a classmate in her public speaking class. He said that eBay is like an “online garage sale.” This analogy fascinated Sabrina and sparked her interest.
“I liked fashion and I was one of the first sellers on eBay. My specialty was women’s high-end clothing and accessories. I thrived on keeping up with the next trend, the next hot item.” Her younger sister, Vanessa, joined Sabrina when she graduated college.
The eBay market started collapsing in 2007 and completely crashed with the 2008 market and financial collapse.
In 2008, Sabrina secured a full-time position in logistics for a clothing and accessories company and continues to work in this industry. She began her role as Operations Director at M. Hidary this past May. “Logistics and Operations come naturally to me – it makes sense to me and I am very organized at work. I enjoy the people and every day my job presents me with new challenges.”
The Pandemic
Sabrina worked for a wholesale company whose customer base was supermarkets. She was therefore considered an essential worker and continued to go into the office even after Covid struck.
Food Connection
The Food Connection was born when Sabrina’s friend Remy saw an SBH flyer asking for volunteers to cook Shabbat meals in March 2020, right when Covid hit. The SBH Food Pantry was shutting down due to a food shortage. Remy said, “Let’s volunteer.” They made 60 meals! After posting on social media, volunteers began to cook the meals at their homes, maintaining strict standards of kashrut. They even freeze some meals for last minute requests. An SBH chat was created to ensure all requests are met.
Sabrina organizes events where young people participate and cook meals together. Approximately 300 Shabbat meals were cooked.
Approximately 250 to 400 Shabbat meals are now cooked by 15 to 20 Manhattan volunteers, largely for the elderly and families in need, served by SBH Brooklyn.
Shabbat meals are also prepared and delivered to community members and their families in hospitals and sometimes to where the Morris Franco Community Cancer Center directs them.
There is a large Sephardic/Syrian community in Manhattan. Sabrina prays at the Safra Synagogue and loves the community saying, “Wherever we are, we stay connected.”
Whole Fruits
Eleven years ago Sabrina launched her dehydrated fruit business, Whole Fruits, on Instagram. She saw a dehydrated fruit platter on Pinterest and asked a friend, “If I sold this, would you buy it?” The rest is history! Sabrina dehydrates the fruit herself. Dehydrated fruit is healthier than dried fruit as there is no added sugar. Dehydrated fruits are a good source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They are made by baking fresh fruit in the oven at a low temperature.
Sabrina sells platters for the holidays that are available on koshervalet.com, under the strict supervision of Rabbi Navarro. She also accepts orders throughout the year, via text or private message on Instagram. Her platters are available at Ouri’s Market in Manhattan and in Deal Foods in the summer. Follow her on Instagram @whole_fruit.
Balance
Sabrina continually strives for work-life balance. Her chief challenge is managing her time.
She works out and enjoys meeting friends for dinner. Sabrina has a personal trainer for boxing, which really releases her stress. She travels as much as she can. Most recently she joined a safari at the Kruger National Park in South Africa. She recommends visiting countries abroad, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana.
What’s Next
Did I mention that Sabrina also loves cooking and hosting meals?
“I like to try new recipes and putting my own twist on Sephardic dishes.”
Sabrina caters Shabbat meals for community individuals and families. She has also cooked for working moms. Opening her own full-time catering business is definitely on her wish list.
Sabrina encourages young people “to put it out there if they find something they like. I never knew I would make and sell dehydrated fruit platters eleven years ago until I tried it.”
To join Sabrina’s team of volunteers or to speak with her, feel free to connect with her by email Sbenun77@gmail.com, text 732-233-5689, or Instagram@sabrinajb.
Ellen Geller Kamaras, CPA/MBA, is an International Coach Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach. Her coaching specialties include life, career, and dating coaching. Ellen is active in her community and is currently the acting President of Congregation Bnai Avraham in Brooklyn Heights. She can be contacted at ellen@lifecoachellen.com (www.lifecoachellen.com).