This Orthodox Jew Built a Charity That Creates Unforgettable Moments for Families Who Need Them Most

On a recent cold February evening, Hillel Adler and his son Jacob attended a New York Knicks game together, donning brand-new jerseys. While it may have looked like any other father-son outing, for the Adlers, moments like this don’t always come easily. Jacob has cerebral palsy, which means that everyday plans and outings require extra coordination, transportation, accessibility, and expense. As Hillel put it, “There’s always excuses.”

Jacob, he explained, is “trapped in a physically challenged body,” but cognitively and socially, “he’s very with it and he just wants to be normal.” Watching games at home, Jacob often asks, “When can we get tickets?” — a question painful for Hillel to answer. “It’s hard as a parent,” he shared, “to not just be able to flip a switch and make him ‘normal.’”

This particular night happened because someone did flip a switch. Mike Dube, founder of the charity now known as Moments to Memories, made it happen.

For nearly two decades, Dube has created moments like this for families facing illness, grief, or hardship. The organization began years ago as Sharing Seats, after Dube started matching unused corporate tickets with children who could use a lift. Over time, the work evolved, and so did the vision. “We’re taking a simple moment that people take for granted and it’s becoming an everlasting memory,” Dube explained, describing what the rebranded name Moments to Memories is meant to capture.

Today, the organization goes far beyond tickets. Dube describes his approach as “white glove charity,” where every experience is tailored to the individual. “It’s one thing when we used to have sharing seats for 15 years,” he said. “Now, I get to cultivate an experience.” Sometimes that means jerseys delivered before a game. Other times it means nice dinners out, scooters for children waiting for transplants, or follow-up gestures long after the rest of the world has moved on from a family’s tragedy.

In one case, after a father in Englewood passed away, leaving behind three young boys, Dube followed up month after month. “For three months straight,” he said, “I told them, I’m going to buy you guys a jersey, the first of each month.” The final one was signed by their favorite player after connecting with his agent. “It was magical,” he added.

In another recent moment, Dube helped an Israeli soldier who had lost both his legs in Gaza. “We sent him to a Knicks game with his family, his mother to a Broadway show,” Dube shared. He also arranged for a rare pair of Jordans for the soldier to wear once he received his prosthetic legs, calling the moment “very powerful.”

But what drives a husband and father of two — who balances this work alongside a full-time career as a life coach for all ages — to keep showing up for strangers’ hardest moments? “I’m fortunate that I get to be a giver and a fixer in a very selfish, broken world,” Dube said. “That’s a very powerful thing. A lot of that is through chesed and charity. I can tell you that by doing chesed, that keeps my engine rolling all the time. There’s no shortage of opportunities.”

That mindset shows up in every interaction. What stands out most to families like the Adlers isn’t just what Dube gives, but how he gives.

Hillel noticed that when Dube speaks to Jacob, who sits in a wheelchair, he doesn’t stand up and talk above him. “He bends down and talks to him at his level,” he said. To Hillel, that small detail revealed something essential. “He treats him just like another person. He’s not doing charity work for him. He’s just a friend.”

That night at the Knicks game, Jacob was able to cheer, groan, and soak in the electric energy of Madison Square Garden alongside thousands of other fans. “To just see him be like everyone else,” Hillel said, “just pure, pure joy. It’s something that every parent would want to see.”

For Dube, moments like that are the point. “One of the most powerful things in this world is the ability to help others, especially those that are going through a tough time.”

“I see the darkest of the dark,” he said, “and I get to bring light.”

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