As a volunteer organization, we have lots of volunteers, the officers of our Executive Committee, the volunteers that take significant program responsibilities. and others too numerous to note. There are others, who have volunteered to do roles far less glamorous, but who help make our programs successful, and we want to recognize their involvement here.
Our October 2021 Honoree: FJMC's Volunteer of the Month is Andy Alper from the Hudson Valley Region. One rarely meets a selfless person devoted to his family, work, synagogue, community, and FJMC as Andy. He is a former President of the New City Jewish Center Men's Club and Past President of the Hudson Valley Region. Every year, he undertakes the essential and time-consuming job of designing and editing the Tribute Journal for the Hudson Valley Regional Men of the Year event. Andy coordinates the region's Shabbat service at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is the Recording Secretary of his Synagogue's Executive Board. When Andy is not volunteering for a good cause, he spends his workweek as Senior Vice-President at Marsh USA, the world's leading insurance broker and risk advisor.
Andy is a member of the FJMC Information Technology Team. His assistance is essential to the work of FJMC. Andy is a patient and reliable team player with infectious energy and passion for completing a project as quickly as possible. Being a volunteer is a demanding task. He is humble and respectful when working with the members of the FJMC IT team. Andy is a tireless volunteer who sets an excellent example for all of us by working independently and managing his time to ensure that all the assigned work is completed as needed. Andy is so appreciated by those he helps. We thank Andy for contributing so much of his time, energy, efforts, and passion for FJMC, and, in particular, for all the time and talent he used in revising many of the Yellow Candle website pages.
Our July 2021 honoree: For his superlative work in doing the technical 'back-end' work for Convention 2021 - A Virtual Taste of Convention. Juggling multiple responsibilities and sessions and making it look polished and professional is not an easy task. [He practiced this role when he admirably handled the technical, back-end side of our Virtual Leadership Development Institute in January 2021.]
Mike Keats
Synagogue
Temple Shalom Men's Club
Region
Northern New Jersey
Occupation
Principal, State & Local Government Management Consulting at North Highland
Married to Andrea and father of Harrison Keats. Mike is now NNJR Vice President of Communications. As everyone well knows, Mike is always willing to go above and beyond to make things happen. He is a pleasure to volunteer and hang out with!
Our April 2021 honorees They have worked on the Yellow CandleTM program this year. No job is too small to be important. Each of the honorees spent countless hours on the internet finding information about non-affiliated shules (that didn't have an affiliated Men's Club), and captured such information in a database so that the FJMC Yellow Candle Team could reach out to synagogues which weren't participating in our Yellow Candle Program to tell them about the program, and hopefully, to get them involved in this important Holocaust Remembrance program.
Jacob Barth
Synagogue
Temple Israel of Natick, Natick, MA
Region
New England
Occupation
Principal Programmer Analyst at Tufts University
Ken Sosne
Synagogue
Seaside Jewish Community, Lewes, DE
Region
Seaboard
Occupation
Retired from 28 years of federal grants and financial management.
Former Director of Regional Grants for the Administration for Children and Families HHS
Spent 3 years as a Loaned Executive doing federal charity work prior to retirement March 2019.
Robert Gordon
Synagogue
Congregation Etz Chaim, Marietta GA
Region
Anshei Darom (Men of the South)
Occupation
Retired y'all
Bernie Flashberg
Synagogue
Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael, Springfield, NJ
Region
Northern New Jersey
Occupation
Retired High School Social Studies Teachers, 34 years.
Taught Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
I supervised student teachers for 15 years and was an adjunct instructor at a local college teaching teachers about the Holocaust.