Four hundred women feasted their palates on catered meals, and feasted their eyes on a glamorous fashion show in the confines of Woodbury Jewish Center's grand ballroom, where the synagogue's sisterhood held its annual major fund raiser, collecting money for a variety of services and charities, perhaps the most meaningful of which is the Friends of Allison organization.

Friends of Allison is a philanthropic organization based in Bethesda , Maryland, founded by Alvin Atlas, which assists cancer patients by funding bone marrow drives and defraying the expense of costly operations. One of the patients currently benefiting from Friends of Allison's heartwarming mission is Nancy Berger, a Woodbury Jewish Center congregant who was diagnosed with MLA, a rare form of leukemia, in 1998, and who on January 23 of this year underwent a successful bone marrow transplant in a Seattle, Washington hospital.

By policy, no Woodbury Jewish Center group can give money directly to a temple congregant, but it can make donations to outside charitable organizations. During the sisterhood's festivities on Tuesday evening, March 16, a "Lucky Buck" raffle was held with the specific purpose of collecting funds for Friends of Allison. The promotion raised $1,000 for the organization.

Friends for Allison fully or partially sponsored three separate bone marrow test drives for Berger prior to her transplant (each test $45), and is now compensating her for part of her hospital bill. It was after the sisterhood ran its third bone marrow test drive that Berger and her supporters learned that a perfect match had been located. Because the match process is done anonymously, it is not known if Berger's match came from one of the Woodbury Jewish Center drives.

Even if it didn't, by no means were the drives held in vain, for many who had volunteered their time to take a simple blood test were informed that they were matches for other patients. Thus, Friends of Allison's objective was certainly satisfied that evening, according to Sisterhood member Rhonda Samuel.

"Friends of Allison's goal is to increase the number of people on the registry for the National Marrow Donor Program," explained Samuel, "which, in turn, will help save more lives."

The sisterhood and Friends for Allison also provided assistance to Berger's children, who stayed home with a grandparent and a caretaker while their parents flew to Washington.

While the Friends for Allison fund was the most popular charity, and the one in which the sisterhood had the most invested, the entire evening of fashion and dining raised funds for numerous philanthropic causes in which the sisterhood will participate in 1999. "We do a lot of things for the community," asserted Sheryl Goldman, sisterhood president.

Monies raised will be reserved for food and clothing drives, disaster relief funds, the repairing of damaged synagogues and the organization F.E.G.S., which protects abused women and their children. Another of the sisterhood's many events, an authentic, rabbi-led Passover seder for seniors in the Hatzilu adult home, will took place for the sixth consecutive year this spring.

JEM Prestige Catering, like in years past, provided the food, just as it served the cuisine for the evening fund raiser. JEM management - RoseLee, Scott and Stephanie Morrell actively participated in serving and entertaining the seniors.

"I like to be here because it truly brings me pleasure," said RoseLee Morrell. "They love the attention...because a lot of these people don't have families anymore."

In an impressive and uplifting showing, The Woodbury Jewish Center Sisterhood was able to establish a commitment from every merchant belonging to the Woodbury Village shopping center (commonly known as the Edward's shopping center) to contribute their goods to the fashion dinner.

The owners of the strip mall's eight clothing stores saw to it that all the models actually had something to model, and the other store owners pitched in with prizes for goodie bags, and the raffle in Nancy Berger's name.

For fund-raiser chairwoman Nina Rubin, the event was all about a tight-knit community sharing a cause. "It's really the community helping the community help a community member," said Nina Rubin.

Berger is said to be doing well, recovering from her operation.

Friends of Allison, which has contributed to the screening of 75,000 people since its 1989 inception, and has located over 250 matches over that time, can be reached for information at (301) 496-7750.