Decennial Friendship Circle Gala Lauds Teen Volunteers and Guests of Honor

More than 900 attendees, including prominent business leaders, politicians, and even a professional football player, were present at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Friendship Circle.   The success of the evening was record breaking not only in attendance, but more importantly in money raised.

The annual banquet was in tribute to 815 teen volunteers and to Guests of Honor, Sheree, Nathan and Jennifer Mandelbaum, and Betty Pantirer Schwartz and Howard Schwartz.  Surrounded by family and friends, the honorees were recognized for their commitment to children with special needs and their families throughout the community.

The 10 year anniversary celebration was chaired by community leaders and philanthropists Sharon and David Halpern, Seryl and Charles Kushner, and Karen and David Mandelbaum.
“It is such an inspiration just to be around you,” said Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum, Executive Director of the Friendship Circle, introducing Betty and Howard Schwartz.  “Both of you, together with your entire family, have such an incredible way of keeping the past alive, while living today to the fullest and building a better tomorrow through your dedication and generosity.”

Nathan and Sheree were inspired by their 16 year old daughter, Jennifer’s involvement in the Friendship Circle, and together their commitment and great support have truly become a family affair.

“Here we are, many of us not even old enough to drive, and we’re affecting people’s lives in ways they will never, ever, forget,” Jennifer said while speaking on behalf of the Friendship Circle volunteers.  “We’re already learning that true happiness doesn’t necessarily come from what you get, but from what you give.

“Anyone who thinks that you have to wait until you’re a fully-grown adult to make a real difference isn’t familiar with the Friendship Circle,” stated Jennifer.

At the end of her speech, Jennifer was joined on stage by 10-year-old Danielle Sass, who represented those touched by the project.  Susan Sass, Danielle’s mother, described how important the appearance was for her.

“Before we left the house, Danielle kept looking in the mirror and telling me ‘Mom, I look so pretty, just like a princess,’” said Sass.  “My daughter is never going to be on the championship basketball team or receive accolades for academics, but tonight she felt like a princess and that is indescribable.”

According to figures circulated at the event, in its 10 years of striving to realize its vision for “a world in which people with special needs and their families experience acceptance, inclusion and friendship as contributing members of society,” the Friendship Circle has drawn on the efforts of some 3,400 teenagers.  Collectively, they have spent 35,000 volunteer hours annually working with children with special needs.

Another highlight of the evening was the presentation of the new video “Mindsets.”  It was visible to all, that the film had a deeply profound impact on everyone in the theater by raising awareness of how the Friendship Circle has changed the lives of children with special needs, their families and the teen volunteers who work so closely with them.   The video can be viewed at www.fcnj.com/mindsets.

After the event, Leslie Dannin Rosenthal, President of the Women’s Philanthropy Division of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey asserted that under the direction of Rabbi Zalman and Toba Grossbaum, the Friendship Circle – part of a network that includes more than 70 similar initiatives around the world – has “changed how the entire MetroWest community thinks about children with special needs and their families.”

“An entire generation of young people have been touched,” she wrote on her blog, “and now think differently about what it means to be a part of a community [that] includes people with special needs.”

In his remarks, Zalman Grossbaum focused on the future.

“We’ve come a long way in these ten years.  We’ve opened some incredible new doors and have achieved some truly remarkable things,” he said.  “But let us not for a moment get so caught up in how far we’ve come that we lose sight of how far we have yet to go.  Let us not rest on our laurels, for our work has only just begun.”