Esra’s Annual General Meeting on May 21, 2008 was a special evening. It was a time for looking back over achievements of the past year and for looking ahead to the challenges still facing Esra. It was a time for expressing gratitude to volunteers for years of dedication and service. It was also a time for reviewing what Esra, as a volunteer organization, has contributed to the State of Israel and for hearing a personal account of life during the 1948 War of Independence from the viewpoint of a young immigrant from America. All this was accomplished in addition to the official purpose of the evening, a business meeting devoted to a review of Esra’s financial situation and the election of officers for the coming year.

Esra’s members can feel a great sense of pride in the organization’s accomplishments: we have more than 930 active volunteers; we run 34 community projects assisting some 1200 families each month, and several new and exciting projects are just at the beginning stages. Some 38 social, cultural and educational programs per month attract an annual audience of approximately 2000.  There are 15 active Support Services and a Volunteer Division which carries out the recruitment, training and placement of our volunteers. Esra’s media includes the Esra Magazine, Esravision, Esralist, 3 websites and YouTube. These activities generate an average of 16,000 financial transactions per year with administrative support provided by a staff of only 7 part and full-time staff members including our Director General, Liz Trakeniski.

Together with these accomplishments there are challenges to be met and overcome: the need for adequate and continuing financial support; the need for increasing membership; and the need for development of a cadre of new, future leaders. These are priorities for the coming year.

“In the 60^th year of Israel’s being and almost 30 years of Esra’s being, I ask myself” said Merle Guttmann, Esra’s Founder and Honorary Life President, “what Esra has given to the State of Israel”? “I believe”, she said as she addressed her question, “that Esra has contributed to the State of Israel in five areas: voluntarism, absorption, social investment, model organization/innovation and Zionism. “Esra has elevated volunteerism to new heights. We believe in the ability of the volunteer to do a ‘professional’ job…We give responsibility to our volunteers, and trust, and we all, as volunteers accept this responsibility and trust and meet the challenges. We have elevated volunteerism numerically: annually over 900 volunteers are actively involved; breadthwise in the variety and types of volunteering that our volunteers do; depthwise: nobody believes that we carry out “professional” jobs on a volunteer basis; and we have elevated volunteerism amongst English speakers, an immigrant group.

Guttmann continued on the contribution of Esra to absorption: “We gave a special note ‘of home’ to many thousands of immigrants. We helped turn the crisis of immigration into an opportunity, an advantage, by creating opportunities for English speakers to become active in their communities and to rebuild their confidence through volunteering…We ease the social absorption process…and help English speaking immigrants to “feel good”, to “belong” to their community, to contribute to the State, to deepen their identification with the State and their sense of belonging to Israel and to improve their quality of life.” Esra has served as a model for other immigrant and nonprofit organizations – it is financially independent and a-political, it embodies all English speakers and in showing the development of a Self Help organization into a recognized body engaged in helping others throughout the community. It is a Zionist organization which loves Israel, gives to Israel and identifies with and helps alleviate its social problems.

This evening was also a time for carrying out the administrative tasks of a registered nonprofit organization: a Financial Report was delivered and approved; external auditors and control committee were appointed; and elections of Chairperson, Co-Vice Chairpersons, Council members and Executive Committee members were carried out. Outstanding volunteers who are stepping down from current positions were recognized: Robert Langbart our Treasurer; Abe Jaffe, Treasurer of Branches and Social Activities; Phyllis Bloch and Adele Hunter, Co-Vice Chairpersons. Each of them is deserving of our deepest respect and gratitude for the boundless time, energy and dedication that they have contributed to this organization.

The grand finale of this evening was our guest speaker. Zipporah Porath is a master storyteller. She had her audience roaring with laughter and brushing away tears as she shared memories from her widely acclaimed book “Letters from Jerusalem 1947-1948: Eyewitness to the Miracle Birth of Israel.” Zipporah came for a year’s study at Hebrew University in 1947 and stayed. She spoke of iron beds with straw mattresses and orange crates for desks, of carrying grenades in her brassiere for the Hagana, of setting up her own First Aid Station which featured a red Magen David drawn with lipstick on a piece of white cloth, and of being the nurse for a convey of amputees being sent out of besieged Jerusalem. “Zippy, ha Americait” was a perfect guest speaker for an evening devoted to Volunteering in the State of Israel.

This evening was a tribute to Zippy and the many hundreds of Esra volunteers who continue to contribute intelligence, dedication, and hard work to keep our organization and our country growing and developing.

Esra Executive Committee 2008-2009

Lieberman, Debby - Chairperson

Applebaum, Meira - Co-Vice Chairperson

Zuck, Nina – Co-Vice Chairperson

Bloch, Phyllis

Goldstein, Renee

Goodman, Audrey

Hunter, Adele

Katz, Hertzel

Langbart, Robert

Lavender, Annette

Peled, Zmira

Rostowsky, Juliet

Shulman, Averil

Stein, Richard

Wolfe, Ed