For Andrew Cushnir, president and CEO of The Associated, one of the biggest perks of the job is simple.

“I often say that I have the best seat in Jewish Baltimore, because I have a view from my office of everybody coming into our refreshed building, and it is a beautiful flow of Jewish life, of everything,” Cushnir said. “From kids coming to the library, to people coming to work, to folks coming to get services, to people coming to celebrate together at agency events or cultural programs, it’s just a remarkable place where so much beautiful Jewish life is happening.”

The Associated held its annual meeting on June 17, giving everyone else the chance to do what the organization’s leader does each day from his office: absorb and reflect.

The meeting highlighted accomplishments from the past year, looked ahead to the next and reflected on moments that brought the community together.

Plus, there was some good food.

Cushnir said that the meeting served its purpose well and reminded everyone who participates in The Associated, whether they’re in Baltimore, Ukraine or Israel, why the Federation’s role in the Jewish community is important.

“Our annual meeting is a terrific opportunity for us to tell the story of our year to our closest family and supporters, and I thought this year’s program and experience was exactly what we wanted,” he said. “We’re able to tell our story through different people who had experienced our work from everywhere, from here to Odesa to Ashkelon, and we also had a chance to have in the room the people that make our work possible.”

One of the most telling moments of the event came during Cushnir’s speaking portion, when he asked attendees to raise their hands if they had been to previous annual meetings, and then drop them as the total got higher than the number they had attended.
Many in the room kept their hands raised as Cushnir said “10 … 15 … 20.”

A few kept them up even higher than that. The last raised hand was by a woman who has been to 35 annual meetings.

That exercise illustrated that the Baltimore Jewish community is not just a tight-knit one, but an involved one, too.

“I don’t claim to be a newcomer anymore, because I’ve been here for a couple of years, but as someone who is newer compared to the beautiful traditions of involvement and engagement in multi-generational life in Baltimore, I often marvel at just how many people have committed their lives to building one community,” Cushnir said.

The annual meeting was also a chance for The Associated to remind those in attendance of its annual campaign, which ends on the final day of June. This year’s fundraising total will top last year’s by “several hundred thousand dollars,” Cushnir said. He chalked that up to major donors increasing their gifts, as well as the Jewish community as a whole realizing, in this moment, how important it is to support a Federation that helps keep them safe, informed and involved.

“I think the Jewish community is rallying around itself in this really difficult time,” Cushnir said.

Over the past year, The Associated’s greatest accomplishment was the opening of its new headquarters, the Goldsmith Campus. Cushnir called it a place that presents new opportunities for the community.

“We’re extremely excited to be in a place that is a crossroads for the community, and that gives us the chance to see more people, to serve more people, to coordinate our work better, and it’s just exciting,” he said.

For Cushnir, things are looking up for The Associated and the community it serves. The recent annual meeting was a good reminder of that. If, at future meetings, attendees are asked again to raise their hands for how many meetings they’ve been to, the results will likely be similar.

“I think all Jewish communities have steadfast leaders, but I think Baltimore’s commitment across generations is unique,” he said.

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com