When former President Rich Jobsky called me in the Spring of 1999 to ask me if I would be interested in succeeding him as the next President I had my doubts whether I would be up to such a task. Up until that time, I was a lesser known quantity at Mosaic. I had joined Mosaic back in the fall of 1993, after somehow finding out about an outings club for Jewish professionals. I was delighted to hear that such a club existed and felt it offered a chance for me to go on Outings and make friends with people with similar interests. I found Mosaic to be a refreshing alternative to the “Jewish Singles scene”. Mosaic offered the chance to meet people in a “relaxed atmosphere ” where you could strike up a friendly conversation, whether it be on the trail, on a walk, on the ride up or at a leader’s meeting. Mosaic was an excellent opportunity for an “outdoors lover” to socialize with other people that I did not avail myself to at dances or bars that I rarely frequented.

I ran a few events and attended the Leader’s and Volunteer’s meeting when I could. I remember liking to speaking up at meetings, coming up with ideas and putting my “two cents” in. Finally, Rich decided it was time to move on and after openly announcing at a few Leaders and Volunteers Meeting that he was looking for a successor, he called me one evening and prevailed upon me about the idea of being the next President of Mosaic. I hesitated at first but then I thought about it for about a week before getting back to Rich and decided to accept the position. I decided to become President because it offered me the opportunity to bring to the fore front many ideas I had for running an outdoor social organization. Becoming the President of Mosaic-GNY gave me a chance to further increase my interaction with other Leaders and members of the club and it also gave me an opportunity to increase my leadership skills that I had learned at Mosaic and as an Area Governor for Toastmasters International.

I can’t sat say the last three years have been easy. I have brought forth many changes in the club but I feel my efforts have borne fruit. Membership has doubled to over 350 members. The number and variety of activities has more than doubled as well. A newsletter, The Mosaic Messenger was introduced. Last year we had a very successful first Club Picnic and we implemented an on line payment system. Many improvements were made to our website and much more.

The most important thing that has happened over the past three years is a dramatic increase in the number of volunteers, Our club is a volunteer organization and it can only runs on the selfless effort put forward by the many volunteers who contribute many hours of their free and not so free time to Mosaic. On my watch, I’d like to extend special gratitude to people like Rich Jobsky, who continued to mentor me after he left office, Mark Schweber, a long time Trustee of the Club who does much of the Chapter’s behind the scenes work, webmasters Janet Mansky and Ed Perlmutter for their long hours working on our website, Sheila Myers for the great job in putting together the activities for each schedule, Lorna Weiner and Howard Israel the friendly “Voices of Mosaic”, Len Feuer and Mark Weiss who worked on Publicity and my friend Ken King, my “right hand man” in taking charge of membership inquiries. There are so many others I’d lik to thank which I intend to do at our upcoming Leaders and Volunteers Brunch and again at the Picnic.

In closing, I’m proud to be President of such a great organization. We offer an incredible amount of activities, thanks to our volunteers and our members. Its great to see so many of us enjoying our events and I look forward to many more in the coming years.

Lanny Wexler