Message from 2011 YMD Co-Chairmen Tony Berns & Joshua P. Binder

As the incoming co-chairmen of The Guardians’ 2011 Young Men’s Division, we want to express our humbled gratitude for the opportunity to lead the premier charity of young professionals in Los Angeles.  The bar has been raised once again by our exiting co-chairmen - Jake Kaufman and Larry M. Schnaid - both of whom brought our success to new heights  in 2009 and 2010 and grew the foundation provided by Young Men’s Division past presidents such as Sean Besser, Joel Cooper, Joey Behrstock, Brian Good, Randy Banchik, Anthony Behar and Jon Konheim to name a few. We are set to reach even higher ground this year with the knowledge, support and guidance from the leaders who came before us.  We thank everyone who has helped the Young Men’s Division thrive.  Your time, energy and support is what makes us so strong and valuable to the Home!

We continue to improve and have set the following goals for this year:

• Grow membership and encourage new members to attend monthly Board Meetings (first Tuesday of every month) so long lasting relationships, in charity and business can flourish.
• Create a new “Home Tours” committee to allow our members to visit with the residents of the Home with our goal of increasing awareness and appreciation for the Home.
• Reach out to new sources for financial support – including sponsorships and contributions from corporate and private donors.
• Continue to bridge the gap between the Young Men’s Division and “Big” Board with the goal of encouraging our “senior” Young Men’s Division members to become Guardian leaders of the future.
• Cultivate the fraternal nature of the group by adding exclusive membership activities such as the Scotch and Cigar Night and Mentorship Program.

Ultimately, these goals will raise more money for The Guardians of the Jewish Home for the Aging than it did the previous year!

Our events have grown to new heights over the past few years; we strive to continue the upward trend in this year’s campaign, including:

• Five Young Member mixers, throughout the year.
• The 16th Annual March Madness Poker Tournament was held at Hollywood Park Casino on March 17th.
• The 13thAnnual Golf Tournament will be at a new venue and on a day this year, MountainGate on Monday, August 22nd.  We encourage all of our Guardians members’ support, making it one the best charity tournaments in town.
• Comedy night, making its big return later this year!
• Annual Party
• The BALL in December, our year-end signature event that has grown to new levels each year since its launch.

Our goals and events will only be accomplished with the continuous hard work and support from our trusted and dedicated Executive Board and Board of Directors who have stepped up to take leadership roles within the organization overall.

Jake Kaufman, our Immediate Past President and current Programming Co-Chairman on the Main Board, is co-chairing Comedy Night with Larry M. Schnaid, with hopes of bringing nostalgia back to the “Big Board” and money to the Home. Larry Schnaid, our Immediate Past President, has stepped up as Finance Chairman for the Main Board and is always thinking of new and innovative ways to bring money to the organization.  Our Vice President of Events, Jeff Schlesinger, is managing Poker and Golf, two tent pole events for us.  A few years ago, Jeff helped transform Poker, from a membership event into a large money-generating tournament held on the first night of March Madness with the winner receiving a $10,000 seat to the World Series of Poker.

Our Vice President of Sponsorship, Bryan Weissman is tasked with a new role - to bring in new sponsorship money into our organization.  We are extremely excited about his involvement and the huge potential for this new position. Gustavo Lipsztein, our Member-At-Large, will serve the Young Men’s Division by ensuring our members have a voice in our meetings and will soon take over our Mentorship Program which matches our most senior and valuable Young Men’s Division members with Big Board members and creates synergy within the organization as a whole.

Our Vice President of Activities, Robert Roig will organize a Shabbat Dinner, Father and Son Day, Softball Team and a number of other brotherhood events throughout the year. Our sociable and devoted Vice Presidents of Membership – Marc Fishman (New Membership) and Evan T. Papel (Membership Retention) - are the perfect guys for the job and we expect to grow our membership significantly this year.

Joshua F. Cohen & Michael Zatulov, our Vice Presidents of Communication, will help the Young Men’s Division stay ahead technologically, especially with our use of social media, by efficiently communicating with our base and prospective members. Finally, our trusted Treasurer Ross Gerber is strengthening our financial reporting to ensure we remain on-track with our specific financial goals and milestones in raising funds for the Home.

Our Board of Directors continue to assist us by chairing our successful mixers, with each one raising over $5,000 with more than 600 people in attendance.

Co-Chairmen for our February mixer were David Passman and Zach Zalben.

Please feel free to contact either one of us (Tony Berns or Joshua P. Binder)at any time to discuss ideas, ask questions or to simply check in and ask "what's new?" or “how can I get involved?” Thank you for your support in last year. We look forward to your continued support in this year! Please turn to page three for a complete list of this year’s Young Men’s Division Board.

Cheers to an exciting 2011!

Your Young Men’s Division 2011 Co-Chairmen,
Tony Berns and Joshua P. Binder