She was active in the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, supported the arts, and helped launch the careers of Mary Antin and Louis Brandeis.

The couple moved to a brownstone on Commonwealth Avenue near the Boston Public Garden and were active members of Temple Adath Israel.

[1] In the 1880s, driven by economic need and government-sanctioned pogroms, Eastern European Jewish immigrants began arriving in Boston by the thousands.

Lina Hecht started by reorganizing the Hebrew Ladies Sewing Circle in the South End, annexing it to the UHBA, so that it was able to provide blankets and clothing to the immigrants.

They also mentored talented young people, including Louis Brandeis, who went on to become a Supreme Court Justice, and the writer Mary Antin.

After Bamber moved the school to Bowdoin Street in the West End, it was renamed the Hecht Neighborhood House and began admitting boys as well as girls, and serving other ethnic groups.