From Guest Blogger Arnie Kover, JFS Disability Services director and SHALOM Denver director...Yesterday, I celebrated my 30th anniversary with Jewish Family Service and SHALOM Denver. Below is a speech I gave to colleagues and friends on February 4 at a party in my honor:
When I say thirty years at my job, the words “Why? How? That’s amazing and what’s the secret?” come to mind. Well, we all hear about codes lately, like Da Vinci code or bible code, etc. Numerology is a code and the Tarot is a code in itself, a path to enlightenment.
These are all “secret” codes to the secrets of life, paths to a knowing, spiritual, and meaningful life. While I have “dabbled” in some of these, the secret code I discovered is Jewish Family Service/ SHALOM Denver.
When I found JFS, I stumbled on my secret code to enlightenment and fulfillment. The code is in each word of our organization...
JEWISH...My Jewish heart and soul were wandering - and wondering - Where do I fit as a Jew? I am not intensely observant, but strong in my Jewish ethnicity and identity. Here I have found my Jewish roots in the Denver Jewish community through the work we do, through our benefit of time off to observe our holidays, through our D'Var Torahs at each meeting and through our commitment to our ancient value, Tikkun Olam, “to repair the world, one life at a time.” Here at JFS, my Jewish heart and soul have found a home and I thank you for that.
FAMILY... Just look at this family! You are truly a family of staff, clients, board members and peers, who I enjoy and love immensely. Family is so important to me... my own family, my children, grandchildren, and my devoted and loving wife. Add to them all of you, and who could ask for a more wonderful family? JFS is more than just a non- profit human service organization, it is indeed a family, and for this I thank you.
SERVICE...I need and want service in my life! I learned this in my 20s. I learned this on my journey, my quest for meaning, back in the ‘60s. I learned about it through my exploration of various religious paths to enlightenment. I found opportunities to serve and to find out that I could find happiness, satisfaction, and pride by serving others and not only myself. When my daughters came along, I learned that too - in a very big way, and here at SHALOM, I get to serve so many, and from this service I get so much in return. And for this I thank you!
SHALOM...meaning peace. Well, I am surely a peacenik from the ‘60s and still today. Working with our clients, staff, board, and peers, brings healing and joy to thousands of beautiful, appreciative people. One need only to contemplate the amount of goodness and RIGHT action that is done daily, to feel the sense of peace that we create in people and in the world and in ourselves. Again, thank you for the opportunity to enjoy this peace amidst such a tumultuous world.
DENVER....Well this part is still a mystery - how a beach bum like me landed in the Rockies.
The answer must be that I was led here by a higher power to find my CODE, my very own path to enlightenment and to a fulfilled life.... to JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE/SHALOM Denver. And for this I thank God.
When I found JFS, I stumbled on my secret code to enlightenment and fulfillment. The code is in each word of our organization...
JEWISH...My Jewish heart and soul were wandering - and wondering - Where do I fit as a Jew? I am not intensely observant, but strong in my Jewish ethnicity and identity. Here I have found my Jewish roots in the Denver Jewish community through the work we do, through our benefit of time off to observe our holidays, through our D'Var Torahs at each meeting and through our commitment to our ancient value, Tikkun Olam, “to repair the world, one life at a time.” Here at JFS, my Jewish heart and soul have found a home and I thank you for that.
FAMILY... Just look at this family! You are truly a family of staff, clients, board members and peers, who I enjoy and love immensely. Family is so important to me... my own family, my children, grandchildren, and my devoted and loving wife. Add to them all of you, and who could ask for a more wonderful family? JFS is more than just a non- profit human service organization, it is indeed a family, and for this I thank you.
SERVICE...I need and want service in my life! I learned this in my 20s. I learned this on my journey, my quest for meaning, back in the ‘60s. I learned about it through my exploration of various religious paths to enlightenment. I found opportunities to serve and to find out that I could find happiness, satisfaction, and pride by serving others and not only myself. When my daughters came along, I learned that too - in a very big way, and here at SHALOM, I get to serve so many, and from this service I get so much in return. And for this I thank you!
SHALOM...meaning peace. Well, I am surely a peacenik from the ‘60s and still today. Working with our clients, staff, board, and peers, brings healing and joy to thousands of beautiful, appreciative people. One need only to contemplate the amount of goodness and RIGHT action that is done daily, to feel the sense of peace that we create in people and in the world and in ourselves. Again, thank you for the opportunity to enjoy this peace amidst such a tumultuous world.
DENVER....Well this part is still a mystery - how a beach bum like me landed in the Rockies.
The answer must be that I was led here by a higher power to find my CODE, my very own path to enlightenment and to a fulfilled life.... to JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE/SHALOM Denver. And for this I thank God.--Arnie Kover, JFS Disability Services director and SHALOM Denver director
A client at SHALOM Denver gave the following toast at the party:
"There is so called 365 days per year so for 30 years there is so called 10,950 days. Happy Anniversary, Arnie from Sam Gustav Keys."
To learn more about Arnie's career with SHALOM Denver, read the following stories:
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