NEW YORK, NY: At its annual
spring gala the Jewish
Board of Family and Children’s Services (The
Jewish Board),
New York City’s largest human services
nonprofit, honored trustees Mark
H. Rachesky, MD and Jodi J. Schwartz, and longtime
corporate partner Beacon
Health Options. The event, took place
on Wednesday,
May 10, at The Plaza Hotel,
It is also raised roughly $1.5 million for the
programs of The Jewish Board, which serves
more than 43,000 New Yorkers of all faiths,
ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds each
year
Said David
Rivel, Chief Executive Officer: “Our
gratitude to our honorees is boundless. The
support and leadership of trustees like Mark
Rachesky and Jodi Schwartz, and
the work of companies like Beacon Health
Options, make it possible for us to offer
support and care to more than 40,000 New
Yorkers.”
Board president Alice
Tisch presented the honorees with their
awards.
Mark H. Rachesky, MD, received the Schiff
Community Impact Award. Dr. Rachesky is
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lionsgate
Entertainment, a leading film and TV content
creator; president of the New York-based
investment firm MHR Fund Management LLC; and a
board member of Loral Space & Communications,
Inc., and Telesat Canada, the fourth largest
satellite company in the world. He has been a
Jewish Board trustee for 15 years and is a
dedicated member of the New York Jewish
community who also serves on the Board of
Directors of the Mount Sinai Children’s Center
Foundation and Columbia University Medical
Center.
Jodi Schwartz received the Madeleine
Borg Lifetime Service Award. Ms. Schwartz, a
partner specializing in tax law at Wachtell,
Lipton, Rosen & Katz, has been a Jewish Board
trustee for 25 years. She has served on a
variety of committees and was instrumental in
the organization’s absorption of $75 million in
programs from fellow social services agency FEGS,
which closed its doors in 2015. Ms.
Schwartz is also a board member of the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the
Jewish Community Project of Lower Manhattan, and
serves on the Board of Overseers of the
University of Pennsylvania Law School.
The Madeleine Borg Lifetime
Service Award is
named for Madeleine Borg
(1878-1956),
a lifelong
advocate for children and for greater access to
mental health services. From 1942 to 1952 Ms.
Borg served as President of what became The
Jewish Board. She was an early organizer and
leader of the Jewish Federation and the founder
of America’s Big Sister movement.
The Schiff Community Impact Award
is named for philanthropist Jacob Schiff
(1847-1920) and his family in honor of their
work with United Hebrew Charities, an
organization which later became part of The
Jewish Board. The award also honors the Schiffs
for their generosity in donating land in
Westchester County for a school for delinquent
boys, something unheard of at the time. Today
the property is home to The Jewish Board’s
residential treatment center for young people
who are dealing with emotional and psychiatric
challenges.
Managed-care company Beacon
Health Options is
being honored for its longtime partnership with
The Jewish Board. The company facilitates The
Jewish Board’s delivery of behavioral health
services to thousands of Jewish Board clients
and played a critical role in the organization’s
absorption of FEGS programs in 2015. Jorge
Petit, Beacon’s regional vice president for the
New York region, will accept the award on behalf
of his company.
# # #
Gala Co-Chairs
The gala co-chairs were: Fran and
Jack Levy, Lori and David Moore, Jill Rachesky,
Steven F. Richman, Jean and Martin Shafiroff,
Jim Spink, Beacon Health Options, Alice and
Thomas Tisch, and Jean and Ray Troubh.
# # #
For more than 140 years, the Jewish
Board of Family and Children’s Services (The
Jewish Board) has been helping New Yorkers
realize their potential and live as
independently as possible. We promote resilience
and recovery by addressing all aspects of an
individual’s life, including mental and physical
health, family, employment and education. Across
the five boroughs and in Westchester, we serve
more than 43,000 New Yorkers from all religious,
ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds each year.
For more information, please visit www.jbfcs.org