Past president Steve Tripp, left, leads the installation of the new executive committee of the JCC of Central New Jersey, from left, Scott Lazar, Suzanne Tucker, Nan Fechtner, Stacie Friedman, Mark Lindenberg, Shari Hartstein, Peter Weissbrod, Erica Needle, Mindy Goldberger, and Debbie Feldman.
Photos by Elaine Durbach
Annual meeting honors
The following people were honored at the June 8 annual meetings of the JCC of Central New Jersey for their service as volunteers or as staff at the center.
- Volunteer of the Year Award — Lesley Black-Vogel and Carisa Strauss
- Hineni Award for exemplary leadership and service — Shari Hartstein
- Special recognition — Lori Rosoff
- Staff anniversary recognition — 10 years: Laura Bransky, Jennifer Mahler, Debi Price, and Michelle Sion; five years: Michael Goldstein and Joanne McKeown
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June 11, 2009
The centerpieces said it all: Adorning the tables at the annual meeting of the JCC of Central New Jersey in Scotch Plains were decorated containers of zany paper flowers made by the center’s preschoolers. It was both budget-savvy and a celebration of the center’s multi-generational focus.
At the June 8 dinner to honor outgoing president Mindy Goldberger and at the subsequent meeting that saw the appointment of the new president, Scott Lazar, speaker after speaker cited the way the center has become a “home away from home” for their entire family and their pleasure in the growing involvement of volunteers of all ages.
Lazar insisted that he would not lay down any grandiose plans for his term. He quipped, “Man plans and God laughs,” but he did go on to say that he hoped to continue the good work of the past presidents — including his wife, Marcy — to make the agency as relevant as possible to the community and its membership.
Over the past year, there has been a 3 percent dip in membership — a drop in line with or better than other JCCs across the country, but various speakers in the course of the evening outlined the efforts under way to attract new members and increase participation by existing ones.
Those include upgrading the health and fitness facilities to provide “increased value.” Speakers also cited the enhancement of the children’s services and facilities and the growth of youth services, as well as the growing numbers attracted to the center’s Camp Yachad and the expansion of cultural arts and active adult programming.
Also, as of June 20, the center will be open on Saturdays, reversing its longstanding policy of being closed for Shabbat.
‘Directionally correct’
Rabbi Doug Sagal of Temple Emanu-El in Westfield, who gave the opening d’var Torah, praised Goldberger’s commitment to the role of president. He said she maintained the same level of dedication from the beginning of her two-year term right through to its end.
JCC executive director Barak Hermann, left, congratulates incoming president Scott Lazar and outgoing president Mindy Goldberger at the center’s annual meeting.
Turning to Scott Lazar, Sagal said he had a way of welcoming what others might shy away from. “What is a burden to us is a joy to him,” the rabbi said and prayed that the new JCC president might continue to be lifted up rather than weighed down by the burden of leadership.
Goldberger said that when she took on the position, she encouraged each member to imagine all that the center could be. Her commitment was to help turn a good agency into a great agency. “This past year has brought many challenges, but none the less, it is holding its own,” she said. “We’re not great yet, but we’re directionally correct.” She said she had done what she set out to do, and she congratulated her fellow board members on “successfully embracing curiosity above certainty.”
The accomplishments of the past two years included finding an executive director who would inspire the membership. “Without a doubt, we found that in Barak Hermann,” she said. She thanked him for the learning and the achievements of their partnership.
Hermann, in turn, praised Goldberger for her “tremendous humility and her determination to make our center the best it can be.”
He also paid tribute to the 200 volunteers active at the center and the approximately 1,000 programs, classes, and services offered. The plunge in the economy, he said, had necessitated unprecedented fiscal discipline and creativity, to both make the necessary investments for the future health of the center and to ensure its current value to the community.
“I’m not boasting,” he said, “but I’m proud of our staff and our lay leaders.” They are striving, he said, to made the center a hub of the Jewish community, and a place where all Jews and non-Jews feel welcome, and to provide a legacy for future generations.
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