Back row: Left to Right- Jami Toolen, VP Amie AbuRustum, Barbara Brensilber Annette Corbin, Martin Huguley, Treasurer Bob Reinemann, Andrew Kovar, VP VIcki Sidrow, James Geraghty

Front Row: Left to Right- Matt Libien, Executive Director Shelly Wimpfheimer, Board President Franci Steinberg, Anton Schermer  

Board Members Missing from Photo: Rev. Dr. Bill Allport, Renee Bouaziz, Emily Yang, Tamara Francis, Marla Isackson, Trevor Jadoo, Ava Rattigan, John Wilkens, Jennifer Yanowitz

Our People

The Community Chest Board of Managers

Franci Steinberg, President

Robert Reinemann, Vice President/Finance

Amie AbuRustum, Vice President

Emily Yang, Vice President

Vicki Sidrow, Vice President

Dr. Shelly Wimpfheimer, Executive Director

Barbara Brensilber

Marsha Campbell-Young

Claudine Colmenar Rosenthal

Lauren Dayton

Tamara Francis

James Geraghty

Marla Isackson

Trevor Jadoo, Esq.

David Jiang

We welcome these leaders to our 2023-2024 Board of Managers.

Consultants

Luhrs & Associates, Public Relations

Kirsten Richert, Strategic Planning

Chris Witter, Accounting Consultant

Franci Steinberg, Graphic Design

THE COMMUNITY CHEST ANNOUNCES THE NEW PRESIDENT, FRANCI STEINBERG

“We are excited to have Franci Steinberg move into the leadership role of president on the Board of Managers.  From her previous experiences serving on The Community Chest's Marketing and Communications Committee, Young Women’s Scholarship Program, and the Governance and Events Committees, as well as being involved with the Allocations Committee, she understands the organization's mission and programs.  During her term, we look forward to her bringing boundless energy to the board and our activities," said Dr. Shelly Wimpfheimer, Executive Director, The Community Chest of Eastern Bergen County.

            While transitioning from a career in system design and software technical support to raise a family, she became a graphic design artist, creating artwork for the causes for which she was involved.  Steinberg, a former resident of Tenafly, has supported and led several activities with The Chest, especially with communications and graphic design projects.  She updated and maintained the organization's website, designed and produced the printed communications, created media and electronic emails for events and changed the Allocations Admissions' online application process and other programs to online and digital formats. 

            In addition to her work with The Community Chest, Steinberg has held leadership positions with several other organizations.  Currently, she is treasurer of Sisterhood of Temple Sinai, and was a former president on its board.  Previously, she was executive vice president on Temple Sinai of Bergen County's Board of Trustees.  Steinberg has also been active with the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, as chair for The Center for Israel Engagement and as a member of its Women’s Philanthropy Board of Directors.  She also was active in the Tenafly Public Schools holding leadership positions, including president of the Smith School Home and School Association and also at Dwight Englewood Middle School.

Sad news at The Community Chest

(June, 2022)

It is with deep sadness that I write you this notice about the passing of our Board of Managers’ President, Barbara Strauss.

Barbara was a valued board member of The Community Chest for 9 years.  During her time with us she wore many hats - Chair of the Events and Development Committees, Vice President of the Board, and finally President for the last 14 months.  

She was deeply passionate about the work of The Community Chest.  She loved that we helped so many different populations and that we shared our resources with so many agencies. In recent years she was very passionate about the work we were doing with the food insecure, the victims of Hurricane Ida and with the young people in our community who volunteered their time and benefited by our scholarships.

Barbara had great compassion for those who were less fortunate.  She always had time to discuss how to make our reach wider and how we might help more people improve their situations. Not only did she support our work in spirit, but she gave generously to support our many projects.

Barbara had many friends who she involved in her work at The Chest.  Her dear husband Tommy was also very involved with The Chest, so much so that when the board decided to honor Barbara in 2019 we honored Tommy as well.  They were a team and a dynamic one at that!

We will miss Barbara very much and we plan to memorialize her valuable work with us by establishing a fund in her name.  We know that she would want all those that she brought with her to The Chest and all our friends to continue supporting our work since it was so important to her personally.

With sadness and friendship,

Shelly Wimpfheimer, Executive Director