Gay Curtiss-Lusher’s support of Jewish Family Service spans four decades. She served on its board of directors in the 1980s, helped resettle a Russian immigrant family, and served on numerous event committees. For the past 12 years, she has faithfully spent every weekday at the Staenberg-Loup Jewish Community Center, serving lunch to senior citizens and staying on to engage them in activities and conversation.
Sam Zaitz became actively involved with Jewish Family Service in 2014, when he attended his first development committee meeting. Since then he has served on the committee for the annual Executive Luncheon, co-chairing the popular fundraiser in 2015 when basketball great Magic Johnson was the speaker.
Those deeds played a large part in the decision to make each of them the first to receive JFS’s two newest honors: the Joyce and Kal Zeff Humanitarian Award and the Yana Vishnitsky Leaderhip Award.
Prior to their passing, Joyce and Kal Zeff were known for their philanthropy and humanitarian deeds. Vishnitsky recently retired as JFS’s president and chief executive officer.
Curtiss-Lusher and Zaitz accepted their awards at the inaugural Faces of JFS Winter Soiree, a fundraiser chaired by Jeremy Abelson, Barry Curtiss-Lusher, Ben Lusher and Stephanie Zaitz. Stephanie, who is award recipient Sam Zaitz’s wife, is also the granddaughter of the late Jordon Perlmutter, also a longtime benefactor of JFS.
The event was held at the Grand Hyatt Denver and netted $375,000.
After visiting food stations with dishes from North America, Central America, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the 350 guests listened as Vishnitsky’s successor, Shepard Nevel, spoke about the services that JFS provides and the ever-increasing needs.
JFS, he said, helps people “move from crisis (situations) to self-sufficiency, and our mission becomes more compelling every day. Your presence tonight ensures life-changing services are provided to more than 22,000 people throughout our community each year.”
JFS has programs that help seniors live independently at home. The agency also provides food and financial aid to those in need, offers quality mental health counseling, and helps train and find jobs for those with developmental disabilities and other barriers to employment.
To better illustrate the scope of JFS’s services, professional actors portrayed the stories of Sara, a Holocaust survivor and Senior Solutions client; Darwin, who has received help with food, rent and employment, and Kalin, a disability and employment services client.
Charlie Gwirtsman, chair of the JFS board, and vice chair Leanna Harris introduced the award recipients and also helped welcome a crowd that included Diana Zeff Anderson; Essie Perlmutter; Jonathan and Amanda Alpert; Rob and Kathy Klugman; Alan and Gayle Boxer; Brad Farber; Shell and Lisa Cook; Carol Karsh; David and Vicki Dansky; Nancy Alterman; Perry and Susie Moss; Andrea Hyatt; Ken and Sheryl Feiler; Joyce and Rabbi Steven Foster; Chet and Louise Schwartz; Gareth Heyman, whose MorEvents was among the evening’s sponsors; Andy Levy; Debra Herz; Michael Opatowski and Ruth Malman; Gary and Terri Yourtz; Brent and Julie Morse; and Mark and Leslie Sidell.
Mark Sidell will be chairing the 2018 Executive Luncheon, which is set for April 18, with Barbara Corcoran as the guest speaker. Perhaps best known for her appearances on “Shark Tank,” Corcoran heads the $6 billion Corcoran Group, New York’s largest real estate company.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, partiwriter@hotmail.com and @joannedavidson on Twitter
