We do it because we love it...

I am going to start with three statements that I hold as true in my mind about the relationship that lay leaders play in the vitality of the independent school world and that are especially true in the case of Lander~Grinspoon Academy.

1) LGA is a dynamic and complicated organization with many people invested in making it a school of excellence every day. We are not a school with a large overhead of administrative resources.
2) Most independent schools and LGA included depend on the greater community to support it in a variety of ways including both human and financial resources.
3) It currently takes and will continue to take both lay leaders and paid professionals to make LGA a place that maintains to be on the forefront for both the Jewish people and the educational world.

LGA, like many small schools in its shoes, has relatively few administrative positions. As a matter of fact and clarification, our school administrator (Ashley) and myself are the only full time administrators (all of the others have some teaching responsibilities or are not paid to be here every day) outside of the faculty. The school from its roots has depended and continues depend on a strong and robust lay and volunteer leadership to accomplish our mission and vision of being a strong Jewish day school.

On Saturday night, we gathered at the National Yiddish Book Center to put the spotlight on one such lay leader whom from the moment she stepped onto the scene at 257 Prospect Street was an active and fully committed member of our LGA community.  

You see finding lay leaders like Karen Kuhr are rare. Karen’s combination of fierce loyalty, getting down to brass tacks; working hard for the organization that you care so much (in this case her children’s school) about; taking on projects that no one else will do and most importantly rallying the troops for support.  This is all Karen and yet this is and has been so many people at LGA Schechter. This school was built with that in mind. It is with much pride that I could probably look at many people in this room and thoughtfully think about what you have done. This school will always remain that type of community. When it comes to building community, ours is the envy of other schools. Why is that? Because of the genuine compassion of the parent community towards this school, which in turn gets filtered down to our children. For that I thank each and everyone of you.

As many of you know, Karen and Saul love to throw a party. One of my first introductions to this community was their infamous summer party held right before the start of school. They love to host and love to make it big! They fulfill the ultimate mitzvah of Hachnast Orchim, welcoming the stranger. If the school (or I) ever needed to host a small affair, if we are ever short a host for Night Around the Table, Karen, graciously and enthusiastically offered up her home. Saul, with his easy going vibe, always comes along for the ride.

A few weeks ago, we read Parashat Vayera. In this Torah portion, three angels come to the tent of Avraham and Sarah. They do not know these angels, yet Avraham and Sarah open their home widely and with much gusto to make their guests feel welcomed in their home.  They prepared a feast for people that they didn’t really know. Karen and Saul imbue the virtues of welcoming the strangers becoming unbelievable role models for our community.

Karen, Saturday night was our night to say thank you for all that you have done. But it also represented all that everyone has done for this community to make Lander~Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon Schechter School of the Pioneer Valley, the fine community school that it is. 

So here I go again, using that ever so important word community that gets so overused but is really the essence of our school - one community working together to create a powerful and relevant education for our children. To all those people who spend countless hours at meetings, volunteering, shuttling back and forth, sharing your passion, or giving your dollars, THANK YOU! Know that you are appreciated and how much of an impact it has on the everyday of the school. Karen is one example of someone who leads by doing but she has many who follow her shining example.