The COJO Flatbush annual Community Legislative Breakfast, a circle-the-date event for New York’s political and social movers and shakers, once again lived up to its reputation, with the usual large crowd – including close to a hundred elected officials from all levels of government and no fewer than four New York City mayoral candidates – packing Brooklyn’s Kol Yaakov Hall last week.
A Hallmark of every COJO Legislative Breakfast is the air of expectation – the palpable buzz – that begins as soon as the first guests arrive and doesn’t end until the last guests leave hours later. It’s a much-anticipated reunion of friends and acquaintances and a not-to-be-missed opportunity to meet, greet, and network with Breakfast veterans and newcomers alike. Photos and selfies soon follow the handshakes and embraces, and the schmoozing continues throughout the morning, making it necessary for speakers to constantly – and usually cheerfully – ask for a little quiet as they deliver their remarks.
“The Breakfast,” said COJO CEO Louis Welz, “gives us the opportunity to showcase our growing menu of programs – ranging from Adult Education, Summer Youth Employment, and Senior Services to Immigration Law, Free Tax Prep, and pre-holiday Food Distributions – which are supported by elected officials through government programs and discretionary funding, in addition to being subsidized by communal and philanthropic contributions.”
Welz added that he takes particular satisfaction in the diversity of the Breakfast’s attendees – a diversity that, as he put it in his Opening Remarks, reflects COJO’s “track record of transforming lives and creating opportunities for all segments of our communities; and I say ‘segments’ because while our offices sit in a predominantly Jewish area, our clients come from just about every racial, ethnic, and religious group in New York.”
That blanket inclusiveness was stressed by virtually all of the Breakfast’s award presenters and honorees, including City Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse (Councilmember of Distinction Award) who praised COJO for “uplifting the most vulnerable in our community” and State Assemblymember Lester Chang (Distinguished Leadership Award) who said that “even in my offices we use COJO’s services to serve our community.”
In their remarks, both Welz and COJO President Moshe Zakheim highlighted “COJO’s nearly 30,000 unduplicated clients and the more than 60,000 services they received over the past year” and made special mention of the annual COJO Family Fun Extravaganza – an extraordinary, free-of-charge outdoor carnival featuring music and magic and dozens of rides and attractions – enjoyed by thousands of parents and children, sponsored by State Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein.
With the situation in the Middle East still uppermost on everyone’s mind some nineteen months after Hamas’s barbarous assault on Israel, and with 59 hostages still being held in Gaza, Zakheim spoke emotionally of the need for Jewish unity in support of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas, and City Councilmember Inna Vernikov’s introduction of Consul General of Israel in New York Ofir Akunis (Distinguished Public Leadership Award) drew the morning’s most sustained applause. Akunis, who served as Minister of Regional Cooperation in 2020 and 2021, when he contributed to the development of the Abraham Accords, spoke of the close bonds between America and Israel, noting that “it took only eleven minutes for then-President Harry Truman to recognize the Jewish state,” and that even occasional disagreements over the years between the U.S. and Israel haven’t diminished the longstanding strong ties between the two countries.
Support for Israel and the importance of fighting the rise in anti-Semitism were central to the remarks of U.S. Representative Laura Gillen ((Distinguished Statesmanship Award) and State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (Distinguished Leadership Award). Gillen, who represents New York’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes Nassau Conty’s South Shore, and Scarcella-Spanton, who serves New York’s 23rd District, which includes the North and East shores of Staten Island and Southern Brooklyn, stressed their strong backing of Israel and their commitment to speaking out against anti-Semitism and doing whatever they can to counter it wherever it’s found.
While the above-mentioned awardees have established high standards in the realms of politics and diplomacy, COJO Flatbush also paid tribute to four inspirational examplars of communal service from the private sector: Steven Rudolph, MD, Director of Neurology and Stroke Center at Mount Sinai Brooklyn (Distinguished Medical Rofeh Award); Roni Shoyfer, Valley Bank First Vice President Divisional Head Manhattan/Brooklyn (Excellence in Banking Award); Michael Cohen, Founder, Mitzvah Man Foundation (Distinguished Chesed Award); and Dovid Shakovitsky, Devoted COJO Volunteer (Volunteer of the Year Award).
Michael Cohen, who was unable to personally accept his award due to the passing of his father-in-law over the weekend, started Mitzvah Man fifteen years ago as a one-man chesed service and in the years since has seen it grow to a fully computerized operation with more than 3,900 volunteers servicing approximately 10,000 people yearly, helping approved clients in financial need as well as providing holiday assistance, clothing, food, and household appliances. Volunteers also sleep overnight in hospitals to give families respite, participate in Minyanim at houses of mourning, assist homebound men with putting on Tefillin, etc.
Dovid Shakovitsky was praised by COJO Flatbush Social Services Director (and Breakfast Coordinator) Shulamis Shapiro for his dedication and commitment to the community beyond his professional life as a mashgiach, for being the embodiment of volunteerism at all of COJO’s holiday food distributions, and for having “enhanced the COJO family in every aspect.”
One takeaway from the Breakfast – beyond the well-deserved awards, the stirring acceptance remarks, the non-stop networking and selfie-taking, and the prodigious array of breakfast fare arriving at tables every minute or two (or so it seemed) – was the obvious trust and respect COJO has earned from political and religious leaders, from city and state officials, from community activists, and from everyday New Yorkers who have benefited, or know others who have, from COJO’s impressive and constantly expanding menu of programs and services.
The other takeaway was the determination on the part of COJO’s Board of Directors, administration, and staff to build on that trust and respect by continuing to fulfill its promise and mandate that “Help Starts Here!” – until that day arrives when it will no longer be necessary.
