Fred Rothstein to retire next fall from Neveh Shalom

Congregation Neveh Shalom’s Executive Director Fred Rothstein will retire on Oct. 31, 2022, after 21 years of service to CNS and over five decades of Jewish communal leadership. Included in those decades were 12 years at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. Rothstein moved to Portland as MJCC Program Director in 1983 and served as MJCC Executive Director May 1987-August 1995, when the family moved to Israel. They returned to Portland in 1999 and he took the helm at CNS in 2001.
“Please join me in congratulating and thanking Fred on his remarkable career, during which time he worked with six rabbis, three cantors and 10 congregation presidents; stewarded more than $20 million in gifts; and oversaw an entire building remodel,” says CNS President Glen Coblens. “He celebrated numerous family simchas, including the marriage of his daughters and birth of his grandchildren, and navigated tougher life-cycle events in and alongside our kehillah. As a measure of his strong leadership, Fred guided us – and continues to do so – through the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. Fred and Nora have been, and will continue to be, a part of our CNS family.”
Neveh Shalom plans to begin a search for a new executive director, a process co-chaired by past president Jason Kaufman and board member Steffanie Goldsmith. CNS hopes to welcome a new executive director by Sept. 1, 2022. 

OJCF hires donor relations & marketing manager

The Oregon Jewish Community Foundation has hired Susan Berniker as Donor Relations & Marketing Manager. She will help advance the mission of OJCF by advising donors about giving approaches, community needs and foundation services. 
Prior to joining OJCF last month, Berniker worked as an educator as well as in the nonprofit arena in fund and policy development, program management and advocacy. She brings a passion for social justice work grounded in Jewish values as a member of the Women of Reform Judaism’s Pacific District Social Action and Advocacy Team, as Congregation Beth Israel’s Sisterhood Social Action Chair and as a CBI Sunday School teacher. 
“Susan is a marvelous addition to the OJCF team,” says OJCF Vice President of Philanthropy Tara Siegman, who previously served in the donor relations role. “Her demonstrated passion for improving the world is in natural alignment with the foundation’s vision of a world in which all Jewish people practice tikkun olam. Susan is excited to begin working with our kindhearted fund-holders, and I know they will enjoy working with her. Their philanthropy will be very well and thoroughly supported.” 
Berniker holds a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA, a Master of Public Administration from the University of Oregon and a Master of Art in Teaching from Concordia. She can be reached at susanb@ojcf.org or 503-248-9328. 

Nava Sherwood, Megan Harned join CNS Covid team 

Congregation Neveh Shalom Covid-19 Outreach and Services (CNSCOS) has hired two new staff members. Nava Sherwood joins the team in a new role as event coordinator. Megan Harned becomes communications manager/volunteer coordinator, succeeding communications manager JoAnna Wendel, who joined the Oregon Health Authority as a public affairs specialist.
CNSCOS is a team appointed by Congregation Neveh Shalom, with funding from the Oregon Health Authority, tasked with helping inform and vaccinate the Jewish communities of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. The team also collaborates with a range of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations and volunteers to increase access to vaccines by hosting vaccination clinics in community spaces across the tri-county region.
As the Covid events manager, Sherwood works with organizations and communities to provide free Covid vaccination clinics as needed with the CNSCOS Mobile Vaccination Team.
“I am thrilled to be directly serving our community, both the Jewish community and the greater Portland community, supporting this team and increasing the vaccine rates in our area,” says Sherwood. “It has been such a gift meeting with all the different folks coming in, sometimes overcoming fears and misinformation, and supporting their decision to protect themselves and others. I have only increased my respect for and gratitude to our medical community, especially our volunteer vaccinators who make this possible by giving their time to save lives.”
Originally from Puerto Rico, Sherwood lived across the United States before making the Pacific Northwest home for more than a decade. She has worked and volunteered for nonprofit and community-building organizations including Kesser Israel and Jewish Family & Child Service. She served as a program administrator for the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland for a year and a half. A member of Congregation Neveh Shalom, she supports Foundation School and Maayan Torah Day School, both of which her children – Ephraim, 14, Liam, 12, Ethan, 9, and Alia, 6 – have attended. Ephraim is in  high school in Israel. 
Harned said she is looking forward to her new role. 
“I am excited to help our community access vaccines,” she says. “In particular, I look forward to helping people feel informed and as confident as possible about how they navigate their lives and the changing Covid landscape.”
A member of Congregation Shaarie Torah, Harned previously worked as the volunteer coordinator for the Education Department of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education and as a patron services associate at Portland Center Stage. She has also written for the Willamette Week and the Portland Mercury. Most recently, she was the sales and customer success manager and managed email marketing for Mental Health Match, a locally founded start-up that helps people find therapists who are a good fit.
She is excited to help raise awareness of the CNSCOS team’s great work.
The CNSCOS newsletter has pandemic-related news, updates and tips for navigating a Covid-19 world. She encourages people to sign up: lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/r2cZiPd/covid19