Annual celebration honors volunteers at Gural JCC's general meeting

Celebrating the volunteers for another year of events and expressing how much they help the community was the focus of the Marion & Aaron Gural JCC’s annual general meeting.

Held at the Gural JCC’s Harrison-Kerr Family Campus in Lawrence, the June 26 get together highlighted major events and activities from the 2023-2024 year and announced new and upcoming projects to be unveiled soon.

“Our mission to sustain and enrich the quality of life for all members of the greater Five Towns community, social, educational and recreational programs and service guided by universal Jewish values,” said Executive Director Stacey Feldman.

Based on a 2023 study by the UJA Federation of New York, there are 166,000 Jewish households in the metropolitan area, 9 percent of which are considered poor or near poverty, and 37 percent can’t make ends meet, Feldman said. In the survey, 6 percent responded that they don’t have enough food monthly and 600 households said they run out of food every month.

“We are wealthy and impoverished, it means that we have working families that are stretched too thin,” Feldman said. “It really means that individuals and families in our community are struggling to pay their bills and put food on our table.”

The situation has created an increase in the need for family services offered by the JCC, including what is considered the largest kosher food pantry on Long Island — The S.H.O.P. (Sustenance, Hope, Opportunities, Place), in Cedarhurst.

The S.H.O.P, which is open six days a week, has the most amount of volunteers, compared to the JCC’s other initiatives. The pantry dispensed 960,000 pounds of food from July 2023 to June 2024. Almost 600 families rely on it each month for food.

“While programmatically, we had a wonderful year but the situation in Israel is close to our hearts and minds,” Feldman said. “We partner with the village of Cedarhurst and Assemblyman Ari Brown on the Five Towns rally in support of Israel.”

Volunteer Services Manager Laurie Brofsky described the upside of being involved with the JCC.

“Volunteering raises mental health, volunteers often make new friends, learn new skills, or find a new career path,” Brofsky said. “Best of all, volunteering brings fun and fulfillment into their lives, it feels good to do good.” 

Compassion, an open-mind, and a willingness to pitch in wherever needed and a positive attitude are the volunteer’s attributes, according to Brofsky.

There were more than 660 individuals that volunteered with the JCC, providing over 800 hours of community service the past year. The ages ranged from young children to seniors in the community.

“Tonight, we are fortunate to have a number of our volunteers in attendance and many are reluctant to be recognized for the work that they do,” Brofsky said. “It’s OK to be acknowledged for what you do.”

Carol Roth, the S.H.O.P. ‘s operations manager, announced that Rena Kwestel was the recipient of the first-ever Mark Dubin Chesed Award for Outstanding Volunteer Services. Dubin was an outstanding volunteer.

“It’s important for you to know who Mark Dubin was and what he did, he was an amazing person,” Roth said. “He was a constant presence at the S.H.O.P for many years, the donations he brought to the S.H.O.P allowed us to offer varieties of items for families in the community.”

Kwestel did not attend the meeting, but it was said she greatly appreciated being honored.

“Volunteers, we could not do all we do without you,” Brofsky said.