Sol Kramer, chair of the Union Y board, and his wife, Clara, center, are welcomed to the annual meeting by Y president Mark Bloomberg and immediate past president Linda Ershow-Levenberg.
Photo by Elaine Durbach
June 19, 2008
There were hugs and smiles and even tears on Thursday evening, June 12, as Sol Kramer arrived at the YM-YWHA of Union County for its annual meeting.
Kramer, 87, chair of the Y’s board for life, had been ill with kidney problems through much of the spring. This was his first visit back to the institution he has helped run ever since joining it in the 1960s. He still serves as chair of the house committee and throughout his illness continued to advise the agency’s executives and lay leaders on the daily running of the center.
The event started with a barbecue under the trees at the Y’s new Levenberg Picnic Grounds. As Kramer and his wife, Clara, accompanied by her sister Naomi Kornberg, settled themselves on a bench in the shade, Y president Mark Bloomberg and executive director Bryan Fox embraced him, and members of the community, with smiles of surprise, hurried over to say hello.
Rabbi Avrohom Herman of the Jewish Educational Center’s Elmora Synagogue in Elizabeth devoted his opening d’var Torah to Sol, and — like family members welcoming back their patriarch — each speaker after him echoed that joy in his return.
In gratitude for her husband’s recovery, Clara Kramer announced she was doubling her usual donation to the Y’s summer camp scholarship fund — to $2,000. It was a particularly welcome addition to a fund that has faced increased requests this year and a decline in donations.
One of the highlights of the annual meeting is the presentation of the Abraham Izak President’s Award, and this year it went to someone who has been Sol Kramer’s right-hand man in seeing to the upkeep of the Y’s facility.
When the award was presented to Hugo Sanchez, the building and custodial director, Kramer insisted on making a speech — something he seldom does.
He spoke briefly but with visible emotion about the role Sanchez has played in bringing the building and its grounds up to the best condition they have ever been in. “With the work that he has done, he has saved us tens of thousands of dollars,” Kramer said.
Fox pointed out to those gathered some of Sanchez’s achievements — the neat wooden benches, the unobtrusive equipment shed, the rows of new trees, and the awning shading the paved patio at the picnic site. He has also brought his own whimsical touches to the reshaping and renovation of the early childhood rooms and other spaces throughout the building.
In his native Uruguay, Sanchez worked in hospital maintenance and was licensed in a number of areas. When he married and came to the United States in 1988, he hit a language and certification barrier. But his father-in-law worked at the Y and brought him on board, and in the years that followed, he got his American qualifications in boiler repair, swimming pool maintenance, plumbing, and various other specialties.
His wife, Miriam, works in child care at the Y, and his son and daughter — both now grown — came to its summer camp. They were all with him for the ceremony on Thursday, surrounding him with a glow of family pride. “I plan to work here until I retire,” Sanchez had said earlier, looking around at the crowd. “This is my family.”
Mutual support
Speakers at the meeting highlighted the partnership between staff and volunteers. One of those lay helpers this past year has been Bradley Crane, a longtime member and skilled plumber who — at his own suggestion — took on doing repairs to the showers in the men’s and women’s locker rooms.
Devra Feiner, who is a senior teacher in the Early Childhood Department, together with her father, Yigal, donated a $5,000 exercise machine in memory of her mother, Anita Feiner, who was a tireless volunteer at the Y.
Hugo Sanchez, custodial and building director of the Union Y, receives the Abraham Izak President’s Award from Y executive director Bryan Fox.
Photo by Susan Cohen
There was one more highlight in the evening: The center’s director of membership and information services, Aaron Ketner, presented certificates to the three winners in his Biggest Loser fitness program — which he runs as a volunteer. David Romanoff of Elizabeth took the top honor, for losing 8.5 percent on the body fat index.
In his speech, Ketner focused on an attitude that is central to his program — the importance of appreciating the present moment and the strength that comes from mutual support. That was also the theme that resonated all evening through the words of welcome to Sol Kramer.
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