BVEF Grant Awards Luncheon

Exploring Goat Canyon Trestle Before It's Gone Adventure filmmaker Jeven Dovey documents one of Southern California's most remote railroad landmarks

Shop clothing, artwork, home décor, books, and more while supporting the Borrego Springs Children's Center.

Supervisor Jim Desmond Fights Transmission Line Planned Through East County

Martha Deichler, CRC Executive Director and Cristian Hernandez, CRC Team Leader

Items were discovered among boxes recently dropped off at Revivals. PALM SPRINGS, CA June 15, 2026 — DAP Health CEO David Brinkman will formally deliver two Holocaust-related artifacts to the Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage during a Rancho Mirage City Council meeting on June 18 at 1:00 p.m., ensuring they are preserved, studied, and used for education. The meeting will be held in the Council chamber at Rancho Mirage City Hall, located at 69-825 Highway 111. Recently, volunteers at a Revivals resale store sorting donated items encountered two framed artifacts tied to the Holocaust: a Star of David badge and a set of paper notes identified as Lodz Ghetto currency from 1940. Recognizing the significance of what they had discovered, the volunteers ensured the items were protected and handled with reverence before delivering them to DAP Health CEO David Brinkman. The decision to transfer the artifacts to the Tolerance Education Center sparked a meaningful collaboration among community partners. The city of Rancho Mirage, DAP Health, the Jewish Federation of the Desert, and the Tolerance Education Center came together as organizations with different missions but a shared purpose: to protect human dignity and confront the consequences of hatred. “The collaborative work is stitched together because we all continue to fight for the human rights of people who were persecuted by the Nazis,” says Brinkman. “Both the Jewish community and the LGBTQ+ community still face discrimination, and there is a very significant thread that ties us all together.” Reflecting on the significance of the discovery, Brinkman adds, “For anybody who would ever doubt that the Holocaust happened, when you see items like this, the truth is undeniable. These artifacts personalize history, reminding us that real people lived through these heinous experiences.” Rancho Mirage City Council Member Eve Fromberg Edelstein, Esq., believes the artifacts have found the right home in Rancho Mirage. “Our community is committed to ensuring that this history is preserved, honored, and never forgotten." The Star of David badge represents one of the earliest and most visible tools of persecution used by Nazi authorities. Beginning in 1939 and expanding across occupied territories, Jewish individuals were forced to wear identifying symbols, often a Star of David, on their clothing. These badges marked Jewish people for public discrimination, restricted their movement, and made them more vulnerable to harassment, violence, deportation, and, for many, eventual death in ghettos and concentration camps. The second artifact, currency from the Lodz Ghetto, reflects another dimension of Nazi control. Established in 1940 in German-occupied Poland, the Lodz Ghetto confined more than 160,000 Jewish people in overcrowded and inhumane conditions. Within the sealed encampment, Nazi authorities introduced a closed monetary system, currency that held no value outside its borders. This “ghetto money” functioned as a tool of economic isolation and exploitation, stripping residents of real assets while tightly controlling access to food and necessities. In a time when Holocaust history is too often reduced to abstractions, artifacts like these insist on the concrete. They remind us that persecution was carried out through regulations and objects, paperwork and fabric, borders and receipts, each one with a link in a chain that led to deportation and murder. Tolerance Education Center Executive Director Michele Gold explains, “The enormity of lives murdered during the Holocaust can be overwhelming. Sharing stories with relatable artifacts such as these provides a powerful tool to help students learn that the Holocaust happened. It characterizes the events and holds emotional value to help students learn.” “As the organization responsible for overseeing all Jewish needs across the Coachella Valley, Jewish Federation of the Desert is proud to continue serving as a bridge-builder across different organizations, across nonprofits and municipal leadership,” says its CEO, Danny Labin. “We will deliver these artifacts with reverence,” concludes Brinkman, “placing historical evidence in the hands of expert professionals who can authenticate, conserve, and interpret with the respect owed to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust.” About DAP Health Since 1984, DAP Health has remained committed to protecting and expanding health care access. Guided by the voices and needs of the diverse communities it serves, the nonprofit’s nearly 1,000 team members provide medical, dental, and behavioral health care, plus social services and more, to almost 80,000 people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, orientations, and socioeconomic statuses at 23 fixed locations and six mobile units from the Coachella Valley to the San Diego coast. About the Tolerance Education Center The Tolerance Education Center was founded by Holocaust survivor Earl Greif in 2006 and opened its doors to the public in 2009. Its mission is to promote tolerance, civility, respect, and understanding by the elimination of hatred and bigotry. Programs, activities, and exhibits provide an educational opportunity for students and the community at large to expose prejudice, practice critical thinking, and be empowered to take an active role in creating a more just and humane society.

Proposal claims recycled wastewater could support Salton Sea restoration without using Colorado River water

A recent KPBS report shared heartbreaking news: an endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep was found dead after becoming entangled in concertina wire near the U.S.-Mexico border in the Jacumba Wilderness. The story highlights growing concerns from wildlife biologists and conservationists about how border fencing and razor wire can affect protected species, including bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and wild horses. Wildlife biologist Christina Aiello has been among those warning that barriers can cut animals off from food, water, and safe movement corridors. This issue matters to Borrego Springs and the surrounding desert region because Peninsular bighorn sheep are part of our shared desert landscape. Protecting wildlife movement, water access, and habitat is essential to the long-term health of the Anza-Borrego region. Read the full KPBS report here: [ https://www.kpbs.org/news/environment/2026/06/10/endangered-ram-dies-after-getting-caught-in-concertina-wire-at-us-mexico-border ]

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