Federation will unveil new volunteer initiative, plans for coming year, progress on strategic plan

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer

When Federation CEO Cathy Gardner says the Federation’s annual meeting will give the community a taste of what’s in store for the new year, she means it.

Rue Dumaine’s Chef Anne Kearney will lead a cooking demonstration during this year’s meeting, on May 22, which carries the theme of Volunteering…the spice of life.

“We’re marrying the whole concept of the spice of life to a culinary experience,” Gardner says. “Spices entice your taste.”

A Dayton native, Kearney is one of only five chefs honored in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 with a James Beard Foundation Southeast Regional Best Chef nomination. She was awarded the title of Best Chef Southeast in 2002.

Kearney has worked the line at Emeril Lagasse’s restaurant, has researched and formulated recipes for Lagasse’s television program, Essence of Emeril, and has developed and tasted recipes for his cookbook, Louisiana: Real and Rustic.

In 2007, she and her husband, Thomas Sand Jr., opened Rue Dumaine in Washington Township, where they present cuisine she describes as an “Americanized version of classically-styled French Provençal fare.”

“The annual meeting is an opportunity for us to showcase who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going,” Gardner says. “Volunteering is the essence of building community. So we’ll honor our volunteers and we’ll unveil an exciting new initiative for the Federation, which is to provide multi-dimensional volunteer opportunities within the Jewish community, or as a cache of Jewish volunteers, to go out and do good in the world.”

During the annual meeting, the Federation will recognize staff milestones and install incoming board members of the Federation, Dayton Jewish Community Center, and Jewish Senior Service Agency.

“We’ll also demonstrate our successes and our engagement with our strategic plan,” Gardner says. “We’ll show what we’ve achieved relative to our goals and how we’ve achieved those really cool goals. We’ll unveil the visions of our coming year.”

Among those visions will be a sneak preview of the new branding standards for the Federation and its agencies, a result of the strategic plan’s marketing goals.

Volunteering…the spice of life, The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton’s 103rd Annual Meeting, Wednesday, May 22, 7 p.m. at the Boonshoft CJCE. For more information, call Jodi Phares at 610-1555.