2009 JFS Annual Meeting Re-Cap

Earlier this week, JFS hosted a cocktail reception for its Annual Meeting at the Hebrew Educational Alliance. At this meeting, JFS shared the past year's highlights with the community, installed new board members, bid farewell to outgoing members, and presented the 2009 Max Frankel Volunteer of the Year Award.

Scott Friedman served as the emcee and added his humor and lightness to the event. Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald of Hebrew Educational Alliance gave the D’var Torah to kick off the evening.

Chet Schwartz, who has provided outstanding leadership to JFS during the past two years, completed his tenure as board chair. A recipient of the Jack Shapiro Community Service Award, Chet has served for 15 years on the JFS board and 12 years on the Executive Committee.

Chet installed the new board members, Adam Agron, Debra Aleinikoff, and Cary Chapman and passed the torch to new board chair, Steve Kris. Chet also thanked outgoing members Lisa Cohn, Gail Nussbaum, Senator Joyce Foster, Chuck Gross, Howard Lerman, and Rabbi Selwyn Franklin for their years of dedicated service to JFS.

President & CEO Yana Vishnitsky thanked all board members, volunteers, and staff members in attendance for their continued support during the past year despite incredibly difficult economic times when the needs are growing and resources are shrinking. She shared highlights from the past year and mentioned that JFS served 21,500 people this year. "This is remarkable when you consider that we served 15,000 people only a few years ago," said Yana. "Not only have we met the growing needs of our community, but also the community response to this growing demand has been outstanding. The generosty of our community has no bounds!"

In addition, the audience heard about CHAI, JFS's youth volunteer program that addresses domestic abuse. CHAI coordinator, Heather Feinberg, and a CHAI peer counselor, Zach Ginsburg, spoke eloquently about their experiences with this dynamic program.

To top the evening, we honored an outstanding individual, Mike Chesnut with the Max Frankel Volunteer of the Year Award. Mike was instrumental in helping the JFS Family Safety Net program, in collaboration with Catholic Charities, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, and Metro CareRing, become the recipients of $600,000 in state funding. These four agencies have formed the Homeless Prevention Coalition of Denver (HPC), which will start providing homeless prevention services and case management to families with children on July 1, 2009.

Thanks to everyone who attended the event. We welcome your comments and feedback!

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