New president for B’nai B’rith NSW
THE new president of B’nai B’rith NSW Anna Marks admits she has big shoes to fill but is eager to get started.
THE new president of B’nai B’rith NSW Anna Marks admits she has big shoes to fill but is eager to get started.
“I’m very excited and very much looking forward to the role,” Marks told The AJN this week. “It’s going to be a very exciting time for B’nai B’rith, especially with the move to Shalom College happening sometime early this year. That’s going to give us a lot of opportunities and a lot of ways to expand and interact with the community in many ways.”
Marks, a former president of the Syd Einfeld Unit and B’nai B’rith Australia/New Zealand senior vice-president, noted that B’nai B’rith faces the same challenges as other organisations with declining membership.
“I’m trying to find a niche for B’nai B’rith that we can sell as part of the community,” she said. “I would like to inaugurate a series of talks with various members of the diplomatic corps that we’ve previously found very successful.”
Marks said the organisation wants to “maintain the units that we have and provide activities for them”, and noted there are “many ways” that B’nai B’rith can fit into the community.
“We’ve got [project manager] Vivienne Radomsky doing outreach work with young people such as day camps, photography courses and other activities. She’s got plans to do a big band competition later in the year,” she said. “It’s these sort of social outreach programs that I would very much like to see continue and we will be continuing them.”
She added: “We still do bingo afternoons, some of our senior members still do afternoon teas at the Montefiore and B’nai B’rith Retirement Villages.”
Reflecting on the organisation, Marks said: “It will never be like it was 50 years ago when it was an organisation for refugees from war-torn Europe, but it’s still a vibrant organisation and we still do some good.”
She also praised the work of outgoing president Ivan Kaplan. “I would like to build on the work that Ivan has done for B’nai B’rith and hope that I’ll be able to fill his big shoes.”
Marks officially took over the role from Kaplan at last month’s AGM.
EVAN ZLATKIS
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