The Cooper Family congratulates Jeff Cooper, JFS board president for 2016-2018: Charles and Minette Cooper, Allison and Jeff Cooper, Eric Cooper and John Cooper.
At the 63rd Biennial Meeting of Jewish Family Service of Tidewater on June 9, Lawrence Steingold, outgoing president, handed over the reins to Jeff Cooper, who will serve as president for the 2016- 2018 term. Throughout the evening, the focus was on celebration, success and community.
Past president, Dr. Marcia Samuels, installed Cooper and the other members of the executive committee:
• Ellen Rosenblum, vice president
• Kim Gross, vice president
• Patti Wainger, secretary
• Lawrence Steingold, treasurer and immediate past president
• Dr. Marcia Samuels, past president
• Ashley Zittrain, member-at-large
JFS also thanked its outgoing board members, Elena Barr Baum and Janet Yue for their service and welcomed incoming board members Betty Berklee, Frances Levy Birshstein (Hebrew Ladies Charity Society representative), Charlene Cohen, Scott Flax, Chamie Haber, Matt Mancoll, Dr. Ken Muhlendorf and Sara Jo Rubin.
Lawrence Steingold, outgoing president, highlighted the many accomplishments of the agency during his two-year term and specifically expressed appreciation to JFS partners at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater for their support. He commented how “highly inspired I have been by the close to 200 people who work at JFS every day to help carry out the mission of the organization, along with the multitude of volunteers, board members and other partners in the community who do their part to try to make each individual’s life just a little bit better.”
Steingold then presented the Community Partner award to TowneBank, which was accepted by Billy Foster, Virginia Beach TowneBank president. TowneBank has been a supportive partner with JFS for the past seven years in many capacities, including serving as Presenting Sponsor for the annual JFS Spring into Healthy Living fundraising event.
Jeff Cooper presented the 2016 Distinguished Service Award to Elena Barr Baum, in recognition of her years of service on the board and to JFS, including serving as president from July, 2010 through June, 2012. Cooper recognized the “skill and passion” of the JFS employees and also cited the role of its board members as “steering the organization toward a sustainable future, one that is mindful of both mission and margin and is adept at recognizing new opportunities in a changing health care and social service landscape while also strengthening our core functions.”
Betty Ann Levin, JFS executive director, remarked, “Our community should be proud that such a dedicated group of lay leaders are guiding our agency. It continues to be a pleasure to work with our entire board of directors and we look forward to the next two years under Jeff’s leadership.”
Levin also presented plaques of recognition to eight youth in appreciation of their generosity and tzedakah on the occasion of their bar and bat mitvahs over the past two years. Recognized were Noah Alperin, Asher Baum, Matthew Gross, Leo Kamer, Hannah Mancoll, Lauren Moscovitz, Jordan Parker-Ashe and Brayden Snyder. These young men and women focused a portion or all of their respective mitzvah projects to a JFS program.
Amy Cobb