With the arrival of the summer months, Chaverim Of Queens and Great Neck wants to ensure that its over 130 exclusively-volunteer members have the equipment necessary to respond to the community’s non-medical emergencies in a moment’s notice.
A recent distribution gave the dedicated team the best, most efficient, and reliable tools to be most effective.
Veteran and newly-installed members received the updated, cutting-edge equipment, putting generous communal donations directly into the services required by stranded community members.
As one of Chaverim’s 37 dispatchers, I know that the job can be quite taxing. I especially extend a note of appreciation to my fellow jump line dispatchers who are tasked to answer the call when the on-call dispatcher is unavailable. We answer calls at the oddest of times and in the oddest of situations. I recently put a photo shoot with Mayor Adams on hold to attend to such a call, and the mayor was delighted I did so. On a similar note, Congress Member Grace Meng had only the kindest words to say of Chaverim when she noticed our logo affixed on my sweatshirt. Meng and Aaron Cyperstein, Chaverim’s president, have a longstanding friendship spanning decades. The coordinators, Josh Alter, Avigdor Cyperstein, Eli Kreindler, Eli Love, and Moshe Vatch, thanks their dispatching team who answer the community’s calls day and night, and of course the volunteers who drop what they are doing day in and out, late at night, and early mornings to help whoever they can throughout Queens and Great Neck.
The equipment distributed aids in house and car lockouts, dead car batteries, air compressors for low tires, flat tire tools including breaker bars, lug nut sets, and car jacks for all sizes of vehicles. Appreciation for the summer distribution is extended to Mrs. Ale Friedman, Outsource USA, Allstate Insurance Agency, and countless individual donors.
Donations can be made online at www.chaverimofqueens.org.
By Shabsie Saphirstein, member