The Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians & Jews has honored Kimberly Coombs, a tireless advocate for Holocaust education and a crusader against hate and antisemitism, with its 2025 John C. Randolph Award.
Coombs is the K-12 Holocaust Studies Program Planner for the Palm Beach County School District, where she has developed the program into a model for other school districts around the country.
She received the Randolph Award on Thursday at the fellowship’s annual dinner at the Beach Club. About 170 people attended.
Named for fellowship Chairman John Randolph, the award has since 2004 provided recognition for persons or organizations that exemplify the mission of the fellowship. The organization was founded in 1993 by Christians and Jews seeking to promote fellowship, understanding and respect between people of different cultures and faiths.
Charles Hagy, education chair of the fellowship’s board of directors and head of the middle school at The Benjamin School, presented the award to Coombs.
Hagy said Coombs is broadly known for her groundbreaking work in Holocaust education and Jewish studies and for combating antisemitism and hatred in the schools and communities.
“Kim is a person of true compassion and empathy,” he said. “Kim is a loving mother and wife. She is also an incredible teacher and leader.”
Coombs grew up in Portland, Maine. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire and her Master of Education from Florida Atlantic University.
She has more than 30 years of experience in education, including 20 years as a classroom instructor.
“No one I know is doing more to fight antisemitism or to build a movement for Holocaust education in Florida,” Hagy said. “Palm Beach County is a model for the nation under Kim’s leadership. She has risen to the challenge in a time of rising hatred in a very divided country.”
Coombs said Holocaust survivors are her deepest inspiration and the driving force behind her work. She spoke of how they dedicate their time to share their experiences with students.
“Their willingness to relive those painful memories so future generations can learn is nothing short of heroic,” Coombs said.
Florida law requires school districts to teach the history of the Holocaust – the systematic, state-sponsored annihilation of six million European Jews, including 1.5 million children, and other groups by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.
Coombs said Palm Beach County ventures far beyond the state mandate, educating students to recognize modern antisemitism and to have a greater understanding of Jewish people.
The Holocaust program has reached more than 187,000 students across all 183 schools in the district, which is the 10th largest in the nation, Coombs said.
The work occurs at a time when the Anti-Defamation League has declared a global emergency of antisemitism. Nearly half of all adults around the globe harbor entrenched antisemitic views, and 20 percent have never heard of the Holocaust, according to a study the ADL conducted in 103 countries and territories.
“The work we do to combat hatred has never been more urgent,” Coombs said. “We must come together, be allies for one another, and take a stand against intolerance in all of its forms.”
Randolph said the fellowship stands as a constant reminder of the need to speak and act against hatred and antisemitism locally and beyond. If we don’t, the world could experience an event or events which will resemble the Holocaust.
“We are continually and painfully reminded that hate doesn’t go away,” he said. “It only hides.”
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