Chaverim of Queens held their Members Appreciation Dinner celebrating twelve years of service to the Queens community. The event which took place in Fresh Meadows at Beit Eliyahu, was a true success as Chaverim volunteers were appreciated over dinner and with words of encouragement and inspiration from community leaders. Chaverim of Queens was founded in memory of Mr. Jack Friedman, whose name was synonymous with tzedaka and chesed and whose name lives on with the work that Chaverim does. The Friedman, Fried, and Mermelstein families were thanked at the dinner and were honored with the Founders Award in recognition of their ongoing support since day one.

Chaverim is a 100% volunteer organization that started in January 2008 with just ten volunteers. Chaverim now has over a hundred volunteers who respond to a few thousand calls per year.

The dinner was held to show appreciation for the volunteers who go above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis to assist the Queens community.

The Distinguished Leadership award was presented to newly elected Queens District Attorney, Melinda Katz for her ongoing support and friendship to the organization.

The Community Service Award was given to Rabbi Daniel Pollack, Special Assistant to Congresswoman Grace Meng, for his help and assistance since day one. The Hakoras Hatov award was given to Chaim Steigman for his dedication and commitment to Chaverim and for being there for the Queens community in so many ways as he goes beyond the call of duty to help others.

Aaron Cyperstein, Esq., President of Chaverim of Queens, acknowledged the participation of Councilmen Barry Grodenchik and Donovan Richards. Rabbi Aryeh Sokoloff gave a few but powerful words of inspiration to fuel the crowd as he always does. NYPD representatives in attendance included new Chief of Queens, Ruben Beltran, CO of PBQS, Scott Henry, CO of the 107th pct., Captain Kiblin, XO of 102nd pct, as well as Sgt. James Clarke, Police Officers Edwin Martinez, and Peter Carpozzi from Community Affairs. Detective Damico and Lt. Malespin from Queens Borough South were also in attendance.

They were thanked for their assistance to the organization. All stated that it was really uplifting to see young volunteerism.

Gifts were sponsored by long time supporters of Chaverim and donors of the Chaverim APP used by volunteers to respond to calls, Emanuel & Alex of East Coast Auto.

The volunteers enjoyed a sumptuous buffet dinner at Beit Eliyahu thanks to the following generous sponsors:

Jacob Babadzhanov for coordination and Robert Aronov from Bet Eliyahu. Coordinators Eli Kreindler, Moshe Vatch, & Aryeh Edell for making sure no detail was overlooked. The delicious food enjoyed by all was graciously sponsored by Chaim Steigman and Mechy from Mechy’s Takeout, Chaimy, from Seasons, Nachum Kaziev from Sushi Kingdom, and Ushy from Glicks. Wait staff was provided by Rafi Mittel, lighting by Danny Alon, while music was enjoyed by all courtesy of DJ Alex and photography to capture the momentous evening by Hillel Engel.

Additional sponsors:

Yakov Portnoy/PEYD
Michael from Safe-House locksmith

CHAVERIM is actively recruiting Male and Female Dispatchers as well as day and night time Volunteers. This is a great opportunity to be involved in wonderful acts of chewed for your community. Anyone interested is asked to email [email protected]

COQ is non profit organization which accepts your generous tax deductible donations on-line at chaverimofqueens.org

Photo Credit: Hillel Engel Photography