Community Chest South Shore moves out and forward

In less than a year Community Chest South Shore has undergone four major changes. Last September, Five Towns Community Chest rebranded itself to expand into the surrounding communities and enlarge its Neighbors Helping Neighbors program.

In April, Bob Block, who served as Community Chest’s executive director for six years, joined Kulanu to do corporate fundraising and community outreach for the agency that serves individuals with special needs.

Community Chest is moving its office from Woodmere to 207 Grove Ave. in Cedarhurst, the main location of the Marion and Aaron Gural JCC, as of July 1. Community Cheat board meetings will be conducted at the JCC’s Temple Israel of Lawrence campus.

“We are appreciative of what the JCC offers and it made a lot of sense,” said new Community Chest President Cal Nathan. “We are looking for this to work out in the long-term.”

Community Chest serves as an umbrella charitable organization that raises money for the Five Towns Community Center, the Five Towns Early Learning Center, the Tempo Group Inc., and the Center for Adult Life Enrichment. It also helps individuals and families who face a variety of hardships through Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

Since the program’s inception in 2011, the organizations Community Chest supports have given out nearly $1 million, and more than a third of the total has helped more than 700 families, officials said.

Nathan, who runs NYFF Events, an events planning and production company in Bethpage, succeeded Steven Spiro as president this year. Involved with Community Chest for the past six years, Nathan believes he could bring a new perspective. He said that Community Chest is moving into its next phase as it approaches the century mark and aims to help the entire community and be a relevant resource.

“I will try to look at Chest with fresh eyes,” Nathan said. The community has changed, the supported organizations have changed and we need to grow and change.”

Originally established as Community Chest of Hewlett, Woodmere, Cedarhurst, Lawrence and Inwood in 1931, Community Chest South Shore is a huge supporter of the JCC’s Rina Shkonik Kosher Food Pantry, which is also moving to new quarters in Cedarhurst from its Woodmere location.

Joel Block, the JCC’s executive director, said that his organization has worked in tandem with Community Chest to provide help to people who struggle with the associated impacts of poverty and what he called “food insecurity.” “By enabling their organization to be housed on our campuses, we will create a symbiotic environment that will benefit clients through a ‘one-stop shop’ environment,” he said.

Looking ahead, Nathan said the first order of business is setting up Community Chest’s new office space that will be designed to create a collaborative environment with more common space and less cubicles.

Hiring a new executive director is also on the agenda, but Nathan is viewing the position with that those fresh eyes he mentioned. “It may not be the way we think of a traditional executive director,” he said, “it doesn’t have to be full-time or at a certain salary.”

After the move, Nathan said the focus will be on promoting such upcoming events as the 5K Run/Family Walk on Sept. 3 at Sunny Atlantic Beach Club and the annual fair in Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park in October.