Birmingham Celebration

It was my pleasure this Tuesday evening to attend the Annual Meeting of Collat Jewish Family Services (CJFS) in Birmingham, AL.  The community congratulated outgoing president Marjorie Perlman and welcomed incoming president Dan Burnick.  Most of the evening was devoted to a celebration of Esther Schuster, who is retiring after many years of service to CJFS, the last fifteen as executive director.

Under Esther's leadership, CJFS has grown from a small program of the federation to one of the leading social service agencies in the Birmingham area.  The social hall was filled with former and current board members, volunteers, staff, and community members who have been touched by Esther's career and were there to say thanks.  AJFCA member agency executive directors Marlene Schillinger of JFS in Buffalo, NY and Ned Goldberg of JCRS in New Orleans, LA, long-time friends and colleagues of Esther, were surprise guests to share their personal recollections and best wishes.  In the AJFCA family, we will miss Esther's dedication to our mission and her willingness to share her knowledge and experience with executive directors everywhere.  We often called on Esther for her assistance and she never said no, much to our benefit.

I know that many of you want to join us in wishing Esther well in her much too early retirement.  And, you will have an opportunity to do so at the 2011 AJFCA Annual Conference.  Esther will be leading the Birmingham delegation to Calgary, so do not miss this opportunity to give her a hug and a word of thanks.